


Devil's Toll

by BastetCG



Category: Supernatural
Genre: Alpha Castiel, Alpha/Beta/Omega Dynamics, Alternate Universe - Western, F/F, F/M, Illustrated, Illustrations, Knotting, Light Dom/sub, M/M, Mating Cycles/In Heat, Omega Dean, Porn With Plot, Praise Kink, Prostitute Dean, Rutting, Sheriff Castiel, Sheriff!Castiel, Western, Wild West, alpha!Castiel, omega!dean, prostitute!Dean, there's pictures
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-06-28
Updated: 2015-07-04
Packaged: 2018-02-05 20:00:03
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 30,113
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1830430
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/BastetCG/pseuds/BastetCG
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>As the omega band made their final big crescendo of the silly song, all the omegas flipped up their skirts and presented their backsides to the audience.  Some were even so flexible that they waved at the alphas and betas through their legs.  Cas nearly choked on his drink as he swallowed it.  As the new sheriff, he really shouldn't be out in a brothel like this, even if he did like Ellen.  But after a day of hanging an apparent Devil's Toll member and dealing with Benny, he figures he could use a lighter mood.  Besides, Dean just winked at him.</p><p>UNFINISHED  WILL NOT BE COMPLETED</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> So the results are in! And as you can see I will be doing a wild west A/B/O dynamic fic. Chapters should run at about 10,000 words. Unfortunately, I can't really give you guys weekly updates like I did with Divine Right. However! I am going to illustrate this one, so prepare for my shitty art! <3
> 
> Also, while I was writing this, I made an 8tracks to go with it, so if you wanna listen... http://8tracks.com/bastetcg/devil-s-toll
> 
> Beta'd by the lovely and wonderful [Gem](http://abusingtheprivliege.tumblr.com) who puts up with my terrible update schedule and overall obnoxiousness! <3

Castiel squinted in the sun that beat down on the Kansas town.  The summer was oppressive in terms of heat.  He could smell the sun’s rays reflecting off the dusty ground ahead of him.  The town was just as dusty as everything else it seemed.  Each wood paneled building was rather flimsy compared to what he was used to seeing back home.  The smattering of unmeasured, un-sanded facades played directly into his preconceived idea of “Territory Town”. If he were honest with himself, he had no idea what he was doing here, especially given the sweltering summer.  No, wait, he had an idea, but it was a darned stupid one that his brother had forced on him.  He could still remember sitting across the desk from his brother Gabriel, in his own home, getting told that he needed to come out of retirement.

“You were a sheriff for six years and then you just quit!  You were making more money than most lieutenants I see!”  Gabriel, as a commander in the army obviously knew what he was talking about, but the opportunity just hadn’t interested Castiel at the time.  “And you’d be making double that in half the year out west!”

“Somehow I think you might be exaggerating that.”  Cas leaned back in his still but well upholstered office chair.  He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about donning a copper’s hat, but it had always been a passing bit of nostalgia.  He was fine in his life of solitude and silence.

“I’m not!  The army’s looking for good cops and sheriffs to send that way, and they’ve even promised a train ride over to the stations and a percentage of any loot you might confiscate.  That’s a hell of a deal, Cassie.”

“I told you not to call me that,” Castiel warned.

“You told me not to call you that when we’re in public,” Gabriel threw right back.

“And I’m not particularly interested in money or gold or any of that greed-inducing stuff.  I was sheriff of New York for six years!  I got my pay and I let someone else take the burden.  I have everything I need.  My home is here.  My family’s here.”

“What family?” Gabe laughed, “You mean me and Michael?  Isn’t it time you found a nice omega to settle down with?”  Cas snorted rather immodestly at that.

“There’s not an omega in the country that would want me.  Or beta or alpha for that matter.”

“Exactly!  That’s why I’m telling you to go out west!  To the Kansas Territory!”

“I don’t know, Gabe,” Cas shuffled some papers around on his desk and glanced to the side out the window.  It was spring, and the flowers in his garden were just starting to poke through their new greenery.  “I can’t just pick up and leave all this on some half-witted scheme to get myself hitched. I’m just not that interested in starting a family right now.  I’m staying here.  Home.”

Gabriel rolled his eyes and picked up his military coat.  Cas had to admit that its brass buttons and shining hand embroidered emblems did look mighty fine in the spring light.  And there was a small pang of longing for his old dust blue uniform.  He swallowed the thought and kept telling himself otherwise.

“Besides, there’s some right ungodly things happening in the territories, what with the south and such.”

Gabriel turned to him and set his eyes dead on Castiel’s.  He breathed out and said slowly, “Don’t you think I know that?  Why in the hell would I ask you to go out there otherwise?”

The look in his eyes was what made Castiel think it over.  It’s true he wasn’t getting any younger, and meeting a nice beta or omega to start a family with would be nice, but the idea that there were things Gabriel would act seriously for meant it was deadly.  Three days later, Castiel went to see his brother at the commissioner’s office and accepted the job offer.

Alright, so maybe Castiel _wasn’t_ out here for some stupid reason.  That didn’t mean he had to like it.  In fact, he was starting his preliminary round with what he predicted would be the most troublesome point of his new job.  As he looked up at the sign, Harvelle’s Roadhouse: Saloon, Hostel, and Slickery, Castiel took a whiff of the dry late-spring air and touched his badge, just to make sure it was still there.

This place was obviously a whore house, if the bright colors and relative lack of horses meant anything.  Not to mention the stench of sex and omega.  If he had to guess, there were probably about eight to twelve omegas living under that roof, and at least one beta.  The only alphas were guests only, and their scents were old, stale compared to what he could smell of the omegas.  He glanced around the dead street and stepped up onto the porch.  He felt his blood quicken as he pushed the door in.  A wave of scent more incredible than he’d ever experienced washed over him immediately.

In fact it was almost disgusting how much the place stank.  Definitely a brothel.  And the omegas were probably upping their potency with those awful perfumes and smelling salts.  Trying not to lose his lunch over the disgusting smell, he barely managed to look up when a voice called to him.

“Hey, tall man!” it said.  Castiel slowly turned toward the bar counter.  A woman with gray-ish brown hair stood there, watching him through narrowed eyes.  She had a hand in one of her many shot glasses, cleaning it with a white scrap of cloth.  “We ain’t open yet.”

“I’m not here for a drink.”

“We still ain’t open.”  She glanced up at the second floor, which apparently wrapped around the back and sides of the rectangular saloon.  “And I ain’t afraid to call the sheriff on your ass either, alpha.”

Cas laughed to himself as he took in the rest of the whore house.  He saw that behind the bar, there were all kinds of alcohol.  He didn’t recognize most of it, not being a big drinker, so he let his gaze drift over to the other half of the wall.  There was a large metal box wrapped shut with chains and a sign that said “Ellen only”.  So the beta at the bar must be Ellen.  And that box must be where they keep the extra slick she sold.

“And what in the name of hell is so funny, stranger?”

Looking in the opposite direction, at the large stage and several tables set up for viewing , Cas answered, “I know that if you call the sheriff, no one will come.”  Ellen bristled at that, hoping Castiel wouldn’t call her bluff.

“And how can you know that?  You need to leave!”  Cas laughed again.

“Look, let me be clear.  I’m not here for any of the services you offer-”

“Then what the hell are you here for?  Get out!”  Cas rolled his eyes and continued on despite her interruption.

“I came here to scope out where I’ll be spending most of my time for the next two years.”

“The hell do you mean?!”  Ellen was getting extremely distraught at this point, so Cas just pulled his coat out of the way and flashed the shiny gold star at her.  She shut up immediately and went quite dumb.  When she finally got her voice back, she immediately began scuttling around behind the bar and speaking rapidly.

“You just sit right there and I’ll get you somethin’ on the house sheriff; what’s your pick?”

“Whoa now, I told you I’m not here for any of your services.  I’m here to look and to caution.”

“No need for that.  Though we might be calling you e’ery coupla’ nights to get some john off one our omegas.  Have a drink.”

“Sarsaparilla.”

“Not an alcohol man are we, alpha?”

“Never could hold it,” Cas replied with a grin.

“Name’s Ellen Harvelle,” she smiled as she stuck out her hand.  Cas took it and shook it.  He was surprised at her strong grip, but didn’t say anything about it.  “I’d have you meet the omegas, but they’re all sleeping at the moment.  You can probably guess we have some pretty late nights.”

“I’d assume so.”

“I appreciate you comin’ out here, Mr…?”

“Novak.  Castiel Novak.”

“Sheriff Cas,” Ellen nodded to herself with a small grin.  “I appreciate you comin’ out here from whichever Yankee town you’re from, Cas.  We were getting right crazy with that posse taking over.”

“Posse?  What posse?”

“Ain’t no one told you?  The Devil’s Toll Posse?  Alastair and Azazel?”  She looked expectant, but Cas just shrugged.  “You tellin’ me they sent you out here, but didn’t think to tell you what you was up against?”

“I was sheriff of New York for a long while, Ms. Harvelle.  I can take care of a few unwell vigilantes.”  He didn’t like the way her jaw tightened at his statement, but she turned back to her mid-shelf liquors and poured herself a shot.

“Imma trust you on this, Sheriff, but I pray to God that you won’t underestimate us Western folk.  We’re tougher than grit and harder to kill than a god damned skeeter!  You watch out for them Devil’s Toll boys, you hear?  I can’t stand to see ‘em take another young soul.”  There was a strong silence between the two as Ellen poured herself a second shot and downed it.  Cas had to admit he was pretty impressed with her tolerance.  She wasn’t slurring or wobbling at all.  The quiet was not uncomfortable, as Cas might have guessed it’d be, since he’d basically come to tell Ellen that he wouldn’t take any kind of nonsense from a brothel owner.  But Ellen seemed like a well-grounded woman, someone he might even be able to trust one day.  And it seemed she ran a clean operation, regardless of how deplorable he found her profession.

“I saw ya lookin’ at the stage.  You like it?  Had it put in last spring.  Not this spring, last year’s spring,” she clarified.  Cas nodded, not really agreeing, but letting her know he was still listening.  “Used to be a sorry piece of leather spread out in front the tables, but we got a glut last year, and the omegas wouldn’t stop beggin’ for a better stage.  So I got ‘em the best one I could buy in these parts.”

“They have similar clubs in France, I believe,” Cas mused.  “Can-can dancing is quite the spectacle, I hear.”

“What, you a traveled man?”

“Oh, no,” Cas laughed.  “I read a lot.”  In truth, that was how he’d spent most of his short-lived retirement.  He’d read while he ate breakfast, until and during dinner, and up to and through supper.  And then he’d continue until morning, usually waking up with the pages kissing over the bridge of his nose.  He looked down at his sweating glass of bubbles.  Ellen probably already thought him some kind of pansy, and here he was telling her he _read a lot_.  Like that would help him shot a man off a horse or keep an angry man from shooting up the drug store.

“Hmm.  I think I like that.  Harvelle’s: French style saloon.  Gotta be good for sales.  People round here love stuff that sounds sophisticated.”

“Whatever’s good for business,” Cas sighed.

“You gotta problem with my business, don’t you?”

“It’s not exactly legal.”

“How so?  I’ll have you know that this is one of the most respected and successful places of business in town.  And it ain’t like we prostitutin’ our omegas out.”

“What?” Cas couldn’t believe what he was hearing.  Maybe Ellen wasn’t as good a citizen as he thought.

“Well you saw the sign outside.  This here a saloon, hostel, and slickery.  All three are completely legal.”

“So you’re telling me that not one of your omegas has exchanged sex for money?”

“Naw!” Ellen said through a big lopsided grin.  “We sell drinks, rooms, and slick.  What happens after the sale is...”  She waved her hand vaguely in the air.

“Loophole,” Cas smiled bitterly at his soda.  “There’s always some way to get around the rules.”

“Not my fault that sex sells.  In fact, I’d rather it didn’t.  That’s why I set up shop the way I did.”  Again, she lost Cas.  He narrowed his eyes in confusion up at her and she chuckled to herself.  “You think I’m some senile old bag!  Naw, see I treat my omegas right.  They don’t gotta sleep with anyone if they don’t wanna, but that’s where their share of the pay comes in.  E’ery night we pool all the money we earn the, omegas and me, and I take what I need to cover expenses for the buildin’ and the bar, and they split the rest-”

“Depending on how many johns they’ve slept with that night,” Cas finished.  He had to admit, it was a much nicer set up than what he’d seen back in New York.  He swallowed another gulp of his drink while his mind flashed to some of the terrible things he’d seen in brothels.  Dead omegas lying in festering pools of blood, or mangled limbs tied to a bed post with stomachs cut open, or worst of all, left to miscarry.  Cas took a breath to push those memories away.  Ellen was talking again, thank God.

“My own baby girl worked here the longest time,” she sighed.  “But she got enough in her purse she can go east and get herself and education.”  She blew a hot breath on the glass of a whiskey tumbler, then wiped away the residual mist.  “Working on becoming a copper, she is.”

“You must be mighty proud.”

“You bet I am!  I want her to have the world.  And if this is the world she wants, then she’s gonna get it.”

“I hope to meet her in the field someday.”

“You’ll have to send me a telegram if you ever do.”

“If they ever get telegrams out this far.  Otherwise I’ll have to deliver it myself.  Never did trust those ponies.”  Ellen laughed outright at that.

“You know Sheriff, I think you and I will get along just fine.”

“I hope that’s the case.”  Cas shifted in his seat.  Something had changed in the empty saloon, but he couldn’t place his finger on it.  It was too subtle under the stench of fake omega.  He returned his attention back to Ellen.

“We usually don’t get too much trouble.  Unless the posse’s in.  Then it gets right bad.  But it’s the same all over town.  The townsfolk ain’t got no problem with followin’ the rules-”

“Oh like you?” Cas interjected.

“Shut yer mouth I’m talkin’, but once the posse come into town, e’erybody get real nervous like.  And there’re robberies and fires happenin’ all over.  Despicable, really.”

“And the leaders Alastair and…?”

“Azazel.”

“Azazel.  Are those their real names?”

“No one knows.  No one ever asked.  It don’t much matter what their names are if they burnin’ your home and husband to ash.”

There was another long silence between them as Cas put together what Ellen had said.

“Ellen, I’m sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry, just make sure it don’t ever happen again.”

“You know I can’t guarantee that.”

“Right.  Can’t punish a man for a crime if that crime ain’t justified by law.”  The scalding comment made Cas think for a moment.  In fact, he was about to counter her remark when a shrill shriek broke into the air.

“Oh! Auntie Ellen, you didn’t tell us we had company!”  So that was what Cas had noticed earlier.  The smell of a real omega resurfacing among the countless fake scents wafting through the saloon.  Cas turned to the stairs where the shrill voice had come from and was absolutely shocked out of his mind.  He almost stood and ran right then.  At the top of the staircase stood a man dressed in a satin corset and skirt set, which he’d hiked up to his hips using belts.  Male omegas weren’t unheard of, but uncommon.  Male omegas dressing in skirts and dresses weren’t even all that uncommon.  In fact Cas had to question why he was so surprised by the sudden appearance.  After about a second of thought flying faster than his horse, Cas realized it was because the man’s physical appearance, as well as the full force of his scent.

He was beautiful.  He slung a stocking covered leg over the staircase balustrade and let himself slide down.  His smell was deep and drawing, and his eyes seemed to never stop asking questions.  He hopped off the end of the hand rail and skipped over to where Cas sat at the bar.  Cas would never admit that his cup shook in his hand when the man approached him, slinking to him and getting right in his space.

“What have I told you about usin’ the stairs Dean?”

“Ah, come off it Ellen!”  His voice made Cas wince inwardly.  It fit with his clothing, but not his smell.  Was he…Was this Dean wearing make up?  “I’m just tryin’ to get to our first customer before the others steal him away!” lilted Dean.  Cas tried to scoot his bar stool away as Dean lifted himself up and plopped down on Cas’s lap.  Cas had to hold on to the bar with all his strength to keep from falling backwards, but Dean didn’t seem to mind.  He just threaded a hand through Cas’s hair and pressed their foreheads together.

“Sweetheart, that ain’t no customer,” Ellen tried to warn.

“Aw, really?  And here I thought I was gonna get to bed a mighty handsome one tonight.  You sure I can’t interest you in a room?”  Dean ground his hips down onto Cas’s crotch and let out a breathy sigh.  His breath smelt sweet, but Cas had as good a grip on himself as anyone could have.  He never stopped trying to get away.

“Dean, you just offered yerself to the new sheriff.  How do you feel, you dumb ol’ fool?”  Dean sat completely upright, to which Cas let out a relieved breath.

“What you just say?” the strident voice next to his ear made Cas want to push away, even if the scent of Dean’s slick made him want to grab and pull to him.

“Cas here’s a new sheriff ‘round here.”

It was silent between them as Dean looked between his boss and the man beneath him.  Once he decided that Ellen was telling the truth, he let out a loud bark of laughter.  The rest that followed made Cas confused yet again.

“Whew! You got me going, Sheriff!”  He slid off Cas’s laugh and leaned on the bar instead.  “I apologize, from the deepest depths of my damned soul.”  Cas just stared at him.  His voice must have dropped about eight octaves, not that Cas knew anything about music.  This new voice suit him much better in Cas’s opinion, but Cas told himself he didn’t have an opinion, so that was that, and he should probably stop staring.  He grabbed his drink and downed what was left of it.

“Not a problem.  Should really learn to introduce myself.”  He stood and turned to go.  He’d finished his business, but that high pitched voice made him stop.

“Oh, Sheriff!  Sit and stay a while longer, won’t you?”  Dean coughed and his voice dropped again.  “Sorry, I mean we don’t get too many visitors that ain’t here for…” he shrugged and grinned at Cas almost sheepishly.

“See boy, I told you that you’ll scare off every sane man who walks through those doors with that voice of yours,” Ellen chided.

“Well I can’t help it if the johns like fuckin’ a man with a girl’s voice!  It’s good for business an’ you know it!  It’s the same with these god damned bloomers!”

“Oh don’t you play, Dean.  You like the bloomers.”

Dean looked down and fidgeted with the hem of his skirt.  “A’right, I do, but that don’t mean it ain’t annoying _to have_ to dress up for this shit.  Plus, make up’s messy,” Dean complained.

“Well you know you can leave whenever you like.  And I ain’t forcin’ you to do nothin’.”

Cas felt rather awkward sitting in on this conversation.  He wasn’t particularly interested in hearing the details of a prostitute’s profession, even if it was technically legal.  He stood shifting from foot to foot, caught between the door and the conversation before him.  Ellen had taken his empty glass and was currently working it down with a clean cloth.

“When’s Benny due in?”

“Any minute.”

“Really, is it that late already?”

Cas took out his pocket watch and flicked it open.  “It’s almost three,” he supplied.

“Would you look at that!”  And Dean was upon him again, but this time with his real deep voice.  “Where you from where you can pull that out like it ain’t nothin’?  I knew you a Yank, but whew, you must be some kinda heir or somthin’!”

“It’s…it’s just a pocket watch,” Cas tried to lean back, but Dean had his hands under his coat, slowly moving up and down his suspenders.  Cas gulped and Dean grinned smugly at him.

“You’re a little alpha, ain’t you?”

“Dean!” Ellen called from behind the bar.  “Don’t be insultin’!”

“It’s fine, I’m aware I’m not quite what most expect.  But I believe the same could be said about you, Dean.”

For a moment, Dean was struck silent, but then his grin grew wider and he laughed.  “Oh I like this one!  He got a tongue on him!  Oh, what’s that?”  Dean pulled open Cas’s coat to see what he’d caught his hand on, and shrieked again when he saw the shiny star pinned to Cas’s suspenders.  “Whowee!  Well if that ain’t the shiniest badge I ever did see!”

“It’s probably the only badge you did done see, Dean,” said a deep and syrupy voice.

“Benny!” Dean cried.  He practically threw Cas away as he hopped over the bar to embrace Benny.  Cas sized him up as quickly as he could.  Was he an alpha?  Cas tried to scent the air an found he couldn’t get a read on this new man.  Maybe a beta then?  Cas couldn’t imagine and alpha working around all these willing omegas.  But then Ellen had a pretty good amount of smell on her, so why couldn’t he smell Benny?

“How you doin’ Dean?  That sleazy man give you much trouble then last night?”

“Not after you gave him a right talkin’ to.”  Cas felt even more uncomfortable when Dean began nibbling along Benny’s neck, either in gratitude or…something else.  Cas didn’t want to think about it too hard.

“And who might I ask is this alpha here before hours?”  Benny didn’t put any real heat in the words, rather he sounded almost bored, like he’d seen this too many times to be bothered feeling anymore.

“Sheriff Cas,” Ellen said with a quick hand gesture.  “He’s gonna try and take care of us.”

“Pleasure,” Benny reached his free hand out over the bar to shake Cas’s.  “I trust you’re a good shot?”

“Best in New York.”  Benny laughed, and Dean made a shushing noise.

“Well buy, I think you’ll find things are a little different here.”  Benny had a thick accent.  It was thicker than Dean’s or Ellen’s.  Cas narrowed his eyes at the insinuation.

“You a creole?” he said softly.  Benny shut up and glared right back at Cas.

“I ain’t no creole, but most my friends are.  What you got against ‘em?”

“Nothing.  Just trying to get a feel for who I’ll be dealing with.”

“And what the hell’s that supposed to mean?”  Benny was raising his voice.  So he was an alpha.  Cas grinned.  No beta would think to stand so firmly against an alpha.  That was part of why Ellen had warmed up to him so fast.  He glanced at Dean who was staring at him from his place leaning on Benny’s neck.

“Alright you two, calm down.  I ain’t gonna have my best bar back getting’ arrested on the sheriff’s first day.  That’s bad luck.  Dean, go wake up the other omegas.  You got some cleanin’ to do.”  And Dean was gone, racing up the staircase and disappearing into the first room he came upon.  “Benny, I need inventory.  Go tally up the whiskey and scotch barrels, would ya’?”

“Course, Ms. Ellen.”  She gave him a pat on the back as he walked by.

“And I trust you got some more places to scope out?”

“I apologize, I didn’t mean to antagonize him,” Cas bowed his head.

“Ain’t no problem.  I know too well what happens when you get two alphas and an omega in the same room,” she said with a raised eyebrow.

“I-uh, I don’t-”

“Don’t worry ‘bout it Cas.  Ain’t your fault.  You come by tomorrow ‘round the same time I’ll get you another drink.”

“Thank you, Ellen.”

“Welcome, Sheriff.  You be careful out there, now.”

Cas nodded and took one last sweeping glance around the saloon before ducking out the door.  That had to have been the strangest encounter he’d ever had in a brothel.  Not that he frequented brothels that often.  And certainly not for sex.  He was only there for police work, and why in the name of hell was he justifying himself _to himself_?  He was here one day, and the heat was already messing with his head.  He dropped his train of thought with a sigh.  Time to focus on the job.  Next up was the general store, and he wanted to make absolutely certain that there wasn’t any kind of smuggling going on there.

Castiel hanged his first criminal a month and a half later.  It was quite the event, apparently.  A whole crowd gathered around to watch Brady, a small time burglar turned arsonist, dangle from his neck.  Cas honestly didn’t understand what the appeal was.  He’d seen so many people die, he supposed the novelty had worn off; then again he’d never found it thrilling, even in his early days as a copper.

Pastor James read the man his last rights, praying to God to save the mad man’s soul.  Cas doubted it would do anything for the criminal.  The man was practically foaming at the mouth as he stood there.  Cas had tied the rope that hung off Brady’s left shoulder himself.  He’d learned from his chief, Raphael, the different ways to tie nooses.  Raphael had been a sick son of bitch in Cas’s opinion, but he was a damned good copper.

“Always remember that you can put on quite the show with a hanging, Castiel,” Raphael had said.  “If you tie it right, like this see?  If you tie the noose right, the stupid ass man’ll suffocate.  Takes a right long time too.  Sometime you even gotta hang ‘em more than once.”  Then he laughed.  But if there ain’t any spectators, tie it like this,” he had untied the noose and done it back up again, slightly differently.  “It’ll break their neck and you’re done.  No blood, no blue faces, but it sure is fun to watch ‘em piss ‘emselves.”

Cas had always favored that second noose.  The only times he would let his criminals suffocate was when he knew Raphael was watching.  He never taught his cops how to suffocate a prisoner when he took over.  He could only hope that method would die out.

The priest turned to Cas and gave a nod.  Cas sighed heavily.  It was his turn then.  He looked Brady in the eye as best he could then recited, “Brady Jefferson, you are to be hanged this ninth day of June in the year of our Lord 1853.  You are charged with burglary, disturbance of peace, lewd behavior, and arson.  Do you have any last words?”

There were shouts from the crowd, some demanding a retrial, others demanding Cas pull the lever before Brady could speak.  Cas ignored the rowdy jeers and focused on Brady.  The criminal spit on Castiel’s boot and screamed to the air, “Devil’s Toll has been paid!”  And before he could say anything else, Cas pulled the lever.  The floor dropped out from beneath Brady and a soft snap let Cas know he was dead.  The crowd was silent, in shock, until the body began spasming.    There was a roar of approval, as well as a few cries of terror.  Castiel shuddered as Brady’s slowly spinning corpse grinned back at him.  He let out a disgusted groan when he saw the angel lust tenting the man’s pants.  Figures.  Brady hadn’t shocked them all enough, apparently, so he’d have to get a fucking erection after death.  Cas just thanked whatever God there was that the man’s head hadn’t flown off from the force of the drop.  He’d only seen it happen twice, but in his opinion that was two too many times.

Cas turned and descended the gallows’ scaffold.  He needed a drink and a long nap.  The smell of panic and satisfaction mixing together made him angry.  Brady had been a beta, and he’d confessed to everything without a second thought.  Castiel secretly enjoyed being an alpha if only for the fact that he could intimidate criminals just by being present.  One of Ellen’s girls ran by screaming something or other.  He could tell she was one of Ellen’s mainly by the way she smelled and dressed.  She looked like a carnival with pink frills and yellow netting all over.  He should see if Ellen was in.  That’s what he’d do.  It was still early, so Benny wouldn’t be there.  Not that he didn’t like Benny, but they tended to get too close to blows for Cas to really enjoy his company.  Ellen on the other hand was level-headed and easy to talk to.

He let the mulling crowd have their fun poking at the body and sneering at Brady’s lifeless face.  Many of them were shouting at the corpse, as if it could explain the awful things Brady had done.  Someone called to Castiel, running to catch up with him as he left the scene behind him.

“Castiel!  Sheriff Novak!”  Cas recognized that voice but couldn’t put a name too it.  When he turned, he saw it was Charlie.  She ran the pharmacy a few storefronts away from the Roadhouse.  He’d been called out a few weeks ago by old woman Josie to investigate a few loud explosions coming from Charlie’s store.  Turned out she and her assistant Ash were experimenting again.  Cas had sternly reminded them that they needed special permission to possess dynamite and confiscated their rather impressive supply of the stuff.  Then he pretended not to hear Ash ask Charlie about the black powder out back.

“What can I do for you Charlie?”

“You’re just gonna leave ‘im hangin’ there?”

“Let the people do what they want with the corpse.  If it’s not there when I get back, I figure it’s not my problem.”

Charlie looked a little disgusted at the idea, but didn’t say any more on the matter.  “Where are you headed so quick like?”

“I need a drink.”

“So Ellen’s then?”  Cas nodded and turned to go.  “Wait!”

“What Charlie?”  She looked at the ground and fiddled with her trouser pockets nervously.

“Can I come with you?  I’ve never been real good with death and stuff.”  Cas felt his face soften.  Even if she was an alpha, Charlie was a nice woman, unlike so many of the other alphas he’d encountered in this town.

“I suppose, although I don’t see why you bothered coming to an execution if you don’t like death.”

“Uh, curiosity?”  Cas knew she was lying.  He didn’t know why, but he decided he didn’t really care.

“Come on then.  I’m not waiting for you.”

“You know, you got all the town talking with your mysterious personality and lawfully apathetic attitude,” she grinned.  She had to jog a little to keep up with him, and he smiled to himself.  He really wasn’t that mysterious, but the only time people talked to him was if they needed help.  He figured they didn’t need his life story, and if they did, they’d ask.  Charlie tried to get him to talk a little more on the way to the Roadhouse, but Cas mainly only answered in grunts or single syllables.  Charlie didn’t seem to mind though.

Apparently they weren’t the only ones looking for a little forgetting potion.  A small crowd mulled around the entrance of Ellen’s place.  Walking slowly, Cas tipped his hat at them.  They grew silent and wide eyed when they saw him.  One even looked upset, a beta named Tessa.  Cas paid little attention to their small group.  He brushed through the swinging doors and held one open for Charlie.

“The hell do you think you’re doing?!” Ellen shouted as soon as she laid eyes on him.

“I’m sorry?”

“You killed a Devil’s Toll member?  Are you crazy?”  She flipped the bar top up and made a b-line for him.  For a moment, he was concerned that she might try and shake him, but she stopped right in front of him with her hands balled into fists.  “You’re gonna destroy this whole god damned town!  Which one was it?  Guy?  Daeva?  Lust?”

“Ellen , what on earth are you talking about?”

“Lilith!  Lilith comes in here hoopin’ and hollerin’ about how Sheriff killed a Devil’s Toll member!  Who’d you hang?  How bad we in for?”

“What the hell is Devil’s Toll?”  Cas had heard it once or twice, but usually in hushed conversation.  He’d dismissed it as a rouge posse that he wouldn’t have to deal with for a while.  But seeing Ellen so upset made him rethink it.

“The scourge of the earth, if you ask me,” came Dean’s voice from the second floor.  "Hey Charlie, hey Cas,” he said with a wink.  He was in his underwear, a pair of white bloomers and an under bust corset, and of course thick eye makeup.  Cas heaved a sigh, but almost choked at the smell Dean always seemed to bring with him.  It wasn’t as strong as the fake stuff the omegas wore around the brothel.  He never quite got used to it though.

“Hiya Dean!”

“No one asked you Dean!  Go get ready, would you?”

“What and ignore the two alphas already here?”

“Dean, sweetheart, you know I only come here for Gilda.”

“I was hopin’ I could change your mind,” he teased.

“Dean!” Ellen shouted.

“Alright, alright!  Jesus Christ, I’m goin’!”  He glanced back over his shoulder and batted his eyelashes at Cas before he disappeared back into his room.  Cas could feel his cheeks heating up, but whether from Dean’s flirtations or Ellen’s anger he couldn’t tell.

“So?” she demanded, “Who was it?  Who’d you hang?”

“Brady.”

“Brady?”  Ellen took a step back.  Her eyebrows shot up her forehead.  Cas silently squinted as she wracked her brain for whatever she needed.  “But Brady was a part of the town.  He couldn’t have been Devil’s Toll.  That don’t make no sense.”

“He burnt down the Reapers’ home.  That’s why I hanged him.”

“Lilith said his last words were that his toll’d been paid!”

“Well I cut him dead before he could say much more.”

“But he did say that?  That he’d paid the Devil his toll?”

“Something along those lines.”

“Shit!”

“You don’t think the Devil’s Toll gone and infiltrated the town do ya’, Ellen?”  Charlie looked a little nervous.  “I mean, I ain’t worried, I gotta stock of-” she glanced at Cas and then stopped completely.  Her smile was large and tight-lipped.

“If they done gotten into the town, I pray for all our weary souls.”

Cas almost rolled his eyes, but managed to control himself.  Benny stepped into the bar before anyone else could say any more.  His eyes were hard trained on Cas.  “You doomed us all, brother.”

“Excuse me,” Cas felt self-righteousness surge in his gut.  “I tried and convicted a criminal that was causing chaos in your all’s town.”

“Brady was small time,” Benny shook his head.  Ellen sighed in agreement.

“Look,” Cas growled out, “This isn’t my town, I don’t speak the way you do, I know nothing of this place but what I’ve been told.  I have tried my God damned hardest to understand all this nonsense about posses and debts to the Devil, but whenever I ask no one will answer and no one will explain.  So if you all are so concerned about me doing my fucking job, I’d love to hear the reasons as to why.  Why is this posse so dangerous?  Who’s a part of it?  Where do they camp out?”

Everyone sat in silence.  Benny looked at the bar while Ellen rubbed the back of her neck.  Charlie was awkwardly trying to fit her hands in her pockets again.

“You hanged Brady?” a deep voice startled them all out of their trance.  Cas looked back up to see Dean leaning over the handrail of the second floor.  His demeanor lacked its usual playfulness, and if Cas were completely truthful, it scared him more than Ellen’s rage.

“Half an hour ago.”

“Good.  I knew that bastard was bad news.”

“He was Devil’s Toll, Dean,” Ellen said quietly.

“We don’t know that,” Charlie commented with forced optimism.

“There’s only one way to find out,” Dean drawled.  Without another word, he turned his back and retreated to his room once more.

“Shit,” Ellen repeated.

“I’m still waiting for my answers,” pushed Cas.  He shook his head in frustration.  Not only had his questions gone unanswered, he now had about thirty more.  Dean was somehow connected to this mess, but he didn’t even know if wanted to know how or why.  He kind of just wanted to take that nap he’d promised himself earlier.

Grabbing her coat and hat, Ellen grit out, “We need to look at the body.”

“Could be a problem,” Charlie responded.

“I let it hang for the crowd.”

“You did what?!” Benny and Ellen shouted at the same time.

“You just let a Devil’s Toll Man hang?” Benny hissed at the sheriff.  Ellen sighed and put a hand on his shoulder over the bar.  Cas raised an eyebrow as if to challenge him and remind him of his ignorance at the same time.

“We need to stop wastin’ time here arguin’ and go grab that body before the kids start gettin’ creative with it.”  She grabbed Charlie’s arm on her way to the doors.  “I’ll try and explain on the way.  Now get your alpha asses outta my saloon.”  Cas and Benny hurried their way after the two girls.

By the time they made it back to the gallows, just outside the edge of town, someone had cut Brady down and removed his trousers.  Dispersing the remaining circle of angry citizens, Cas took stock of what the vigilantes had done to the corpse.  He sneered at the smell of beta blood and felt Ellen wretch behind him.

Brady’s penis was missing, along with several of his teeth.  His nose was busted in.  There were blood stains in the tatters of his black and white striped shirt.  Pieces of his scalp were hanging off his head.  And in the midst of it all, he still had that stupid smile twisting his face; only now his tombstone teeth were red like berries or the natives’ beads.

“The hell’d you leave ‘im like that for?”  Cas glared at Benny.  He ignored the comment and crouched down to assess the damage better.  Cas unhitched his cudgel from his gun belt and prodded at the corpse’s side.  Ellen had to rush away and vomit from the smell and sight of Brady’s intestines falling out the other side.  “Flip him over on his stomach, brother.”

“Why?”

“Would you just do it?”

“Last time I checked, I was the sheriff.  Step back,” Cas rumbled out.

“Alright, alright, you two,” Charlie interceded, “Put your dicks away and communicate, won’t you?  There’s no need for an alpha pissing match.”

“Just flip him over, would you?” Ellen was breathing heavily, and spit to get the taste of vomit out of her mouth.  Cas sighed and did his best to push the corpse on its stomach without any more internal organs falling out.  It wasn’t as easy as he’d hoped.  Surprisingly, Brady’s back was mostly intact.  If one could ignore the sticky red stain that had seeped back from his side, it was almost like he was sleeping.  No, Cas thought.  He definitely wasn’t asleep.  He knew better.

“Get the shirt off him,” Benny commanded.  Cas growled, but did as the man said.  He didn’t need to piss Ellen off any more than she already was.  So he took a knife from his belt and slit Brady’s shirt up to the collar.  When the thin, worn fabric fell to the sides of the corpse Ellen, Charlie, and Benny all shirked away from the brand on the man’s back.  A huge pentagram decorated his skin, along with tattooed words in Latin circling the brand.

“What in the name of hell…” Cas squinted to get a better look at it in the light of the blazing sun.

“It’s the brand of the Posse.  You still think you got nothin’ to be worried about?” said Benny.  He rubbed his eyes and let out a low whistle.  “Brother, you done doomed the town.”

“We need to get Dean out here.”

“What? Why?”

“He’s the only one in town that can read Latin,” Ellen snapped.  That didn’t make much sense, and Cas was about to ask why when Benny began heading back towards town.

“I can read Latin,” he said incredulously.  “I went to University.”

“Oh so you learned too?” Benny patronized him.  “Well let’s see what Yankee can do.  Why don’t you tell us what his rank is, huh?”

“Alright, I will.  Let’s see here…”  Cas squatted down again to get a better look.  He used his knife to lift extra cloth off Brady’s back.  “Hade’s man…Initiated 1851…and then the number three.  And there’s a bible verse here too.  Mattheus  4:8-9.”

“Matt-hay-us?  I’m a good Christian man, I ain’t too certain that’s a book there, Cas,” Benny said with a twang of judgment.

“Mattheus is Latin for Matthew.  The book is Matthew, chapter four, verses eight through nine.  Now we just need a Bible.”

“No you don’t.  What I just tell you?  Matthew four is the stories for the last weeks of Lent, brother.  So…”  Benny looked to the sky like God himself would descend and give him the answers.  “Temptation.  That’s gotta be the forty days in the desert!” he exclaimed.  “We need a Bible!”  Cas rolled his eyes at Benny’s idiocy.

“What else it say?” asked Charlie.

“It looks like it’s just more about their gang.  Uh, loyal to the Caesar, whoever that may be…disciples of the Lord of Darkness…in exchange for their lives, they get an eternity by his side.”

“Satanists,” Benny spat.  The thick string of saliva splattered right where Cas was reading.  He glared up at the southern man, but kept reading to the best of his ability.

“This isn’t Satanism, Benny.”   Cas wiped dust from his eyes, a habit he’d picked up from living in the heat of the plains.  “They tend to favor the idea of free will rather than organization.  Tattooing like this shows devotion Satanists wouldn’t want to give.”  Benny looked at him, bewildered.  His mouth hung open and his eye bugging out of his skull.

 “How do you know that? You a Satanist?!”  Benny took a step from him.  Ellen and Charlie looked a little uncomfortable as well, but Benny was about to throw a fit.  Cas sighed heavily.

“Catholic, actually.”  Benny almost relaxed when he said that, which had been the exact opposite reaction Cas had expected.  “There are a lot of characters in New York,” Cas lied.  He changed the subject quickly after that; he didn’t want to have to deal with their questions.  “The number three, I’m assuming that’s his rank, right?”

“That’s what Dean said.”  Castiel looked Ellen dead in the eyes.  She got the message immediately: ‘We’re going to talk about this, but later’.

“So he’s third tier.  Any of you know how many tiers there are?”

“Three,” Ellen responded.

“So he’s just fodder.  My guess is that he’s just a pawn, acting on his own or on the behalf of a second tier member.”

“But why?  You don’t think they’re planning anything, do you?”  Ellen actually sounded worried, and that made the discomfort in Cas’s chest press tighter around his ribs.  The smell of blood and distressed beta were both getting to him.  And Charlie’s smell wasn’t doing much to help either.  It was like lead and sat at the back of his tongue.

“I don’t know.  But they’re not getting this town.”

“Comforting,” snorted Benny.  “God damn Satanists.”

“Why’d they cut his thing off?” Charlie said in a small voice.

“He raped someone.  Probably a mated beta or omega.”

“How can you tell?”

“Only another alpha would find pride in castrating him like that.  A beta or omega would settle for mutilation.  So an alpha is getting revenge for the rape of his or her significant other.”

“Damn,” Charlie whispered.  She couldn’t stop staring at the brand.

“Ellen, you and Charlie should go back to the Roadhouse.  Have a drink on me, Charlie.”  Cas yanked gloves off his belt and began prepping to take the body back to his sheriff’s hovel.  The undertaker had already prepped a crappy coffin for the criminal.  And the gravedigger was probably about done with his job.  Brady’s grave would be about a mile out of town, where no one would dig him back up.  Criminals didn’t get buried in the church yard with the righteous folks.

“C’mon, girlie,” Ellen draped an arm over Charlie’s shoulders and turned her around.  Cas expected Benny to follow them back into town, so when he bent down with Cas to take Brady’s legs, Cas was confused.

“What are you doing?”

“Draggin’ this asshole back to the station, right?  That’s protocol, right?”

“I don’t need help.”

“Would you just shut up and help me get him to the shallow grave he deserves?”

“This is my job.  Not yours.”

“Just accept the help, you prick!”

“Fine!”  And that was how they carried the body back to Cas’s work place.  They shouted various curses at each other, and they dropped and dragged various pieces of the corpse, like the arms and head and liver, but they eventually got it to the back room of the station.  They dropped his body on the ground, since Cas didn’t want to deal with washing the cot or pallet.  Brady’d made enough of a mess of his station already.  Cas was about to head up to his room, but Benny caught him by the shoulder before he could mount the rickety wooden stairs.

“Where you think you goin’?”

“Bed.”

“What about that drink you said you wanted?”

“It can wait.”

“No it can’t.  C’mon.”  Cas followed the other alpha with a sigh.  In the end, Cas was glad he let Benny tell him what to do.  There was quite the party going on at the Roadhouse when they got there, and Ellen had been forced to open three hours early.  Charlie was running drinks since Benny had been helping Cas, and when she saw him she practically collapsed.

“How do you do this all night?” She threw his apron at him and flipped the bar up so they could switch places.  Cas watched and tried not to mind as a smelly alpha elbowed him in the side accidently.

“What’s your poison, Sheriff?”

“Sarsaparilla.”

“Whiskey it is.”

“Benny-”

“You trust me on this, Cas,” Benny growled with a raised eyebrow.  He slid the sloppy glass over the bar and Cas caught it easily.  With a pressed breath, he downed it.  What happened next was blurry for Cas.  He could vaguely remember getting a lap full of omega at some point, as well as participating (badly) in one of the dances that took place in the space just in front of the stage, where the citizens had cleared away the tables.  Cas never could take his liquor.  He hated Benny with the tails of his mind, but that wasn’t important because the nightly show was starting up.  Some of the omegas began tuning instruments, and Cas watched carefully from his seat.  With a glance out the window, he could see how dark it had gotten, and almost wondered where the day had gone.  He actually laughed when he remembered it had gone straight up Brady’s ass, and out his festering mouth.

He was surprised when Dean and a few other omegas (mostly girls but maybe a couple other men as well) took the stage.  The unorganized pulling and drawling on strings silenced from the makeshift orchestra.  Cas almost jumped out of his seat when the music began.  He recognized the song almost immediately as “Oh, Susanna” and laughed heartily along with the other patrons at the ridiculous lyrics.  Dean and the other omegas danced and sang the words:

“ _A buckwheat cake was in her mouth, a tear was in her eye,  
Says I, I'm coming from the south, Susanna, don't you cry._

_Oh! Susanna, Oh don't you cry for me,  
For I come from Alabama with my banjo on my knee!”_

The crowd hooped and hollered at the omegas on stage shaking their rears and flaunting their legs.  The full bustle skirts and tight-fitted corsets didn’t do much to prevent the drooling alphas in the crowd.  And it was a crowd, alright.  Cas had been lucky enough to snag a chair.  Charlie brought him another whiskey and he chugged it without a second thought.  That was probably a mistake, but this whole thing had been once mistake after another, starting with accepting this stupid job offer.

But Dean was lifting his skirt and showing off his frilly white bloomers, along with another blonde omega.  They stood back to back, then front to front, holding hands and singing at each other in the most provocative way.  Almost like they might kiss.  Cas could feel his face heat up, but couldn’t tell if it was the liquor or the idea of Dean removing his skirts and drawers and…

Well, it was definitely the thought of Dean then.  He swallowed thickly then finished off that second whiskey.  Just in time too, because as the omega band made their final big crescendo of the silly song, all the omegas flipped up their skirts and presented their backsides to the audience.  Some were even so flexible that they waved at the alphas and betas through their legs.  Cas nearly choked on his drink as he swallowed it.  He was a little glad he’d never stayed late enough to see the show in his short month there in Kansas.  The performance was absolutely tasteless!  Arousing, but tasteless nonetheless.

There was uproarious applause as the omegas righted themselves and bowed to their ever-grateful audience.  The band, which Cas now realized only consisted of a washboard player, a fiddler, and a banjo mistress played a soft transition reprise as some of the omegas hoped off the stage to retreat to the second floor with suitors.  Most of them just stepped behind the wings of the stage to get ready for their next number, whenever that was.  The only one Cas really cared about was Dean though.  He still didn’t know why that particular omega had such an effect on him.  And for some reason, Cas felt there was something important he needed to ask him, something about what happened today.  What happened today, again?

Dean sat on the edge of the stage and the lights dimmed.  One of Dean’s fellow omegas brought him out a guitar and they exchanged quick kisses on the cheek.  Cas watched with the upmost attention.  He got why the omegas used so much perfume now, with the smell of alpha arousal almost overwhelming in the air around him.  The music slowed and almost went a little mournful as Dean strummed the guitar.

“ _Tell me the tales that to me were so dear_  
Long, long ago  
Sing me the songs I delighted to hear  
long ago, long ago…”

Cas had heard the song a few times before; in fact, he’d heard it on the train ride over to the territory line.  But Dean’s voice was deep and rumbling and he sang it differently.  Cas felt his eyebrows nestle together as he listened harder.

“ _Love, when you spoke, gave a charm to each word_  
Still my heart treasures the praises I heard  
Long ago, long ago…”

A few of the alphas in the crowd whistled and called out to Dean, but he didn’t pay them any attention.  He was too busy dancing his fingers over the guitar strings.  Cas was staring so hard he didn’t realize another whiskey had appeared on his table.  Nor had he realized Dean was looking up, directly at him.  There was very little expression on that beautiful face, the same way it had lacked emotion earlier today.  What had happened earlier today?

_“Long ago, long ago…”_

Dean let his hand drop to his lap.  The band went quiet once more and the hollering stopped.  Then before Cas could really process what was happening, the small trio of musicians let out a whoop and began tearing their instruments to shreds.  The omegas came back on stage with Dean, all seemingly undisturbed by the previous weight on stage.  The air cleared again and the patrons were calling at the performers once more.  Dean tossed his guitar to one of the dancing girls and hopped off stage.  Cas threw the whiskey down his throat when he saw the omega heading towards him.

“You’re coming with me,” was all Cas remembered before he completely blacked out.

When Cas woke up, he couldn’t feel his head, or his arms for that matter.  But just as soon as he found that thought, and put words to the sensation, the pain crashed down on his like a bucket of well water.  He groaned and curled under the covers.  It was much too bright in his room.  He didn’t have any windows in his room.  That didn’t make much sense.  He took a deep breath in through the nose and hoped to God that it would make the pounding in his head any worse.

“Oh, you’re finally up?” a voice rumbled from beside him.  Dean.  That was Dean’s smell.  Oh, it was incredible.  Cas’s headache didn’t get any better, but it was a lot easier to ignore when it smelt like he was shoving lilacs and leather and honey up his nose.  He craned his neck and groaned when his lips and the tip of his nose hit warm skin.

“Oh, so now you get all into it.  I see how it is,” Dean drawled out.  Cas only moaned in response.  There was too much happening for him to process it all.  What he knew was that Dean’s bed smelt like an angel had descended from heaven and kissed him.  Dean’s bed.  It was Dean’s bed.  Cas was currently in this bed, curled up around its owner.  Cas lifted his face towards the sun coming through the window in hopes that it would clear his head.  All it did was made him grunt and squint.  He turned back towards the warm, breathing, sweet-smelling man next to him and eyed him cautiously.

“Don’t worry sheriff we didn’t do anything wasn’t kosher.”

“What?”

“Given your situation and your hangover, you’re probably worried you partook in an illegal transaction, but I can assure you sheriff, you were not up for that last night.”  Dean raised an eyebrow and a small smile.  “Don’t worry, I won’t tell anyone.”

“The hell am I in your bed for then?”  He peeled himself up off the bed and Dean’s torso.

“Well you were supposed to fuck me.”

“I never paid for that.  I didn’t pay for…What?”

“You had three whiskeys.  That’s my sign.”  Cas rubbed a hand over his face and tried to sort out his free-floating thoughts.

“Why am I in your bed?” he asked again.  Dean let out a long-suffering sigh.

“Because you were supposed to sleep with me.  Unfortunately, you were too drunk and I didn’t want to take advantage of you.”

“Wouldn’t I have been taking advantage of you?”  Cas rubbed his eyes again.  Dean rolled his in response.   The Omega threw the covers off his bed and padded over to the vanity to retrieve Cas’s clothes.

“You were the one that was drunk, not me.  Trust me, it was a struggle not to just have at you, the cologne you wear.” 

“I don’t wear cologne.”

“What?”

“I don’t wear cologne,” Cas repeated evenly.

“Hmm.  Well regardless, I controlled my primal omega urges.”

Cas shook his head and tried to get out of the bed.  His vision swam, and he squinted into the light.  Falling back into the bed, he asked, “Where are the rest of my clothes?  What did you do with them?”

“They’re over there.  By the vanity.”  Sure enough, Cas’s coat and shirt and suspenders and pants were carefully draped over the vanity chair. Dean stood and grabbed Cas’s overcoat and tossed it too him.  “It’ll be a shame to see you put that all back on again,” Dean’s voice rose about four octaves and Cas winced.  “Sorry,” Dean whispered.

“If you don’t mind me asking,” Cas said slowly, “Why do you speak like that?”

“Customers like it,” Dean grinned bashfully.  Cas had to admit he was rather attractive looking up at him through his eyelashes like that.  And his real voice wasn’t too bad either, if Cas thought about it.  It was deep and gruff, similar to his own voice, but with a small lilt to it.  “I just forgot you’re hung over, sorry.”

“Do you like speaking like that?”

Dean shrugged his shoulders and hummed a little.  “It’s kinda weird sometimes, but it’s not so bad.  Did a number on my real voice though.”  He laughed to himself.  Cas pinched the bridge of his nose as Dean settled back on the bed, holding the rest of his clothes.

“Did you undress me?” Cas accused.

“I wasn’t gonna let you sleep in my bed covered in a dusty coat!” Dean exclaimed in his deep rumbling voice.  Cas had to look away at the sound.  He should not find that so attractive.  He started putting on his shirt, and Dean let out a mournful sigh.  “It’s a shame you missed out last night,” he drawled at the sheriff.  Cas leaned away as Dean crept closer to him on the bed.  Cas could smell the arousal leaking into the air.

“Uh, Dean?”

“Yes, sir?”  Cas could feel the blood rushing to his head and his dick at the same time.

“Personal space?”

Dean ignored him, just getting closer and closer.  “You know what they say about hangovers and sex, right?”

“Uh, no.”  Cas was crawling his way to the headboard of the bed now, on his back, and defenseless.  Dean smirked softly and trickled over him.

“That the best way to cure a hangover is sex.”

“I’ve never heard anyone say that,” Cas said seriously.  Dean froze in his place, and for a moment, Cas thought he was offended.  But then the confusion broke way to a huge grin, and a lot of breathy laughter.  Dean giggled into Cas’s neck, and let his body rest along top of the other’s.  “Did I say something wrong?”

“I knew I liked you for a reason!” Dean nuzzled him and inhaled his scent.  “You smell good and you’re funny!”

“Uh, you’d be the first to think so,” Cas responded, still confused at Dean’s change in demeanor.  He tried to shift out from underneath Dean.

“Oh, right.”  Dean ground his hips down on Cas’s, and they both grunted at the pressure.

“Dean.  Dean I-” he sighed again when the smell of arousal and excitement clouded his judgment.

“Yeah, you smell real good.”

“Dean, no.  Stop!”  Cas had been trying not to compel the omega this whole time, but he saw no other option now.  He used his last remaining shred of decency to push Dean off him as gently as he could.  Dean landed butt on the bed with a soft “Omph!”

And that was when he finally got a good look at the tattoo on Dean’s chest.  A pentagram, surrounded by flames: an exact copy of Brady’s.  Cas tried to remain calm, but he felt panic pushing the arousal out of his mind.

“Dean, who the hell are you?”


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I apologize tremendously for the wait! It's been a little crazy for me with moving to college and all so I've been a little busy. Plus I had to re-write the first scene of this chapter about three times because I couldn't get it right. Dean's point of view is hard, man. Anyway, this chapter focuses mainly on the secondary plot (the romance and stuff), so it moves a little slower, but keep an eye out for foreshadowing...
> 
> Playlist for this fic [here](http://8tracks.com/bastetcg/devil-s-toll)
> 
> To be beta'd by the lovely and wonderful [Gem](http://abusingtheprivliege.tumblr.com) who puts up with my terrible update schedule and overall obnoxiousness! <3

Dean looked down at his tattoo, apparently where Cas so fixated.  Or maybe it was his nipple piercings?  No, the way Cas was trying to climb up the head board of the bed told Dean that it was the tattoo.  He rolled his eyes.  Of course Cas would get scared out of fucking him because of that stupid brand.  Dean fell back onto his rear with a small “oomf”.

“I’m Dean Winchester.  Same as I ever was.”

“You’re a part of Devil’s Toll?” Cas said in a strange voice.  Usually Dean found his rough voice addictive.  He loved trying to make the good sheriff blush and stutter whenever he stopped in to talk to Ellen or Benny, but his favorite was pulling that deep alpha voice out of him.  Too bad Cas tended to stick to monosyllabic answers most of the time.  But his voice was different now.  It wasn’t quite scared, like Dean had originally thought.  Maybe panicked?  Angry?  Who knew?  Alpha’s were too much work to understand.  That’s why Dean only slept with them.

“I’m not a part of the Posse.  Never really was.”

“Then why do you have their brand?”

“That ain’t none of your business,” Dean spat back at him.  He didn’t owe Cas his life story, and God damn it! He was tired of telling it.

“Oh yes it is,” Cas growled.  “A secret member of that Posse almost burnt the whole town down and apparently raped someone.  And now you’re carrying the mark too?  That’s my business.”

“And I’m telling you it ain’t.”  Dean was pretty over Cas’s panic now.  He just wanted to get back to the fun stuff.  Cas fought a valiant battle with the sheets and eventually fell out of the bed in a heap.  Dean couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m telling Ellen,” the sheriff said.  Dean laughed harder.  Now he sounded like a child threatening to tell mother.  Cas’s confusion smelt sweet, so Dean took a deep breath.  If he were honest, Cas was the best smelling alpha he’d met in years.  That was part of the reason he’d bribed Benny into giving Cas the special agenda for free.  Well, not for free.  For barter, really.

“Oh no!” Dean drawled sarcastically, “Whatever shall I do?”  He lay down spread just as he pleased all over his bed.  If Cas wasn’t going to use it…

“What?”  Cas squinted against the bright light spilling in from outside.  Must be about nine then.  Dean sighed and burrowed back into his bed.  He pulled what was left of the blankets over him and snuggled down in Cas’s residual body heat and inhaled his lingering scent.  Then he flopped back over to give Cas another good look at his chest.

“Ellen already knows ‘bout the brand.”

“She knows you were part of the Devil’s Toll and she took you in?”

Dean growled and sat up.  Why were alphas always so dense?  “I was never a part of Devil’s Toll.  I was _owned_ by them.  You think they’d let an omega be any part of their Posse?  Nah, they just needed somethin’ to fuck e’ery once in a while.”  He finished with a bitter, tight-lipped smile that he hoped conveyed every bit of hate he had for those men.  Cas’s hand fell from the door handle.  Dean hated how silent the room was.  This was always the way it was when he told people.  Next would come the “I’m sorry,” or “You’re so strong,” or some other bullshit.  Dean let his head fall back to rest on the headboard and closed his eyes, waiting for it to come.  But it didn’t.

He opened his eyes back up when he felt his bed dip.  Cas sat there, still in his breeches, with his hands clasped between his knees.  The look in his eye was dark and sad.  He sat quietly for another moment before he swallowed and opened his mouth to talk.

“My sister, Anael, was raped and killed when I was eighteen.  She was a beta, just barely presented when it happened.”  Dean didn’t know what to say.  He scooted a little closer to Cas.  This was definitely a different reaction than what he was used to.  “She’d always been a little off.  She liked wandering around the city at night.  Mother always warned her about how dangerous that could be.  Even tried bolting all the doors shut twice, but Ana could not be stopped.  Claimed that the angels would keep her safe.”  He let out a small chuckle at the memory.

“A few months after she presented, it finally happened.  Some alphas thought it would be a good time to have at her.  The police took their sweet ass time trying to find the alphas who did it too.  And when they caught ‘em, all they had to do was sit in the jail house for a month.  Ana was eleven.  She was a child.  I just…”  Cas bit his lip and shook his head.

“Is that why you became a copper?”

“That’s part of the reason.  I tracked down those sick men and had them sent away.  Didn’t care where, didn’t care how.  But they died two years later in an Atlanta jailhouse.  And for the life of me, I can’t feel sorry for them.  At the same time I can’t believe that they got what they deserved for all the pain they caused my family.”  He turned and looked Dean directly in the eye for the first time since the story began.  “The Devil’s Toll Posse is no different from those alphas.  I have no one to answer to here.  I will sentence them how I see fit.”

Cas stood and the bed creaked softly.  Dean felt unusually comforted by Cas’s vague words.  The calm feeling that settled over him made him angry.  He didn’t need an alpha working on his behalf!  Even if Cas was quite the delicious smelling alpha.  But he couldn’t quite muster the energy to be outwardly angry between the comfort and the scent of Cas.  So instead of spitting out a sly comment about Cas overcompensating, Dean just sighed and melted further into his bed.

Cas slowly gathered his belongings and got dressed.  Dean hated this part.  This was when the john would say thanks and throw a few coins on the bed as a tip.  Dean just slapped a smile over his sense of impending loneliness.  But then Cas stopped.  He was awkwardly standing in the middle of the room, between the vanity and the door, facing the foot of the bed.  Dean sat up and changed his smile to an expectant look.  Cas swallowed nervously.  Aww, that was cute!  He still had no clue what he was doing!

“Um, thank you for sharing your bed with me.  I-I, um,” he fidgeted with the coat in his hands, acting like he hadn’t started a thought and left it hanging.

“You what?”

“Uh, I hope you won’t mind if I, uh…Dean, Can I call on you this evening?”

Dean was actually surprised.  If Cas couldn’t smell it in the air, then he could definitely see it on Dean’s face.  No one asked to “call” on a prostitute.  They asked for another night, maybe with a discount, but no one _called_ on them.  And especially not out here in this town.  Suddenly Dean was getting all flustered too, and he hated it.  He toyed with the sheets and bit his lip, trying to hide his embarrassment.  How long had it been since his face was flushed so hot just from words?  A year?  Two?  Probably never.

“I, uh, I wouldn’t hate to see you again Cas,” he said carefully.  The sheriff let out a long breath and the tension he seemed to hold in his body at all times dripped off him.

“Oh, good,” he whispered.  “I’ll leave you to yourself until then.  Until tonight.”  And then with a nod of the head and a few soft steps, the door thumped closed quietly.  Dean hated that Cas was gone, but he also hated that he hated that Cas was gone, but what he hated more was… Oh, this was confusing.  Dean had felt an undeniable twinge of instinct.  He wanted Cas to mate him, wanted to have that smell clinging to him.  He wanted every other person, alpha, beta, omega, to know that he was unavailable and happy, and shit, that made Dean swipe a furious arm over his vanity.  Various tubes and pads of makeup clattered to the floor.  Dean didn’t remember getting up to do that, but it didn’t stop him from throwing the vanity chair too.

As he tried to slow his breathing, he tried to rationalize the innate desire to mate.  Cas was attractive, and he smelt nice, and he was definitely father material, and then Dean was probably about to go into heat soon too, so all that together made his hormones tell him Cas was the perfect alpha.  That was it.  Yeah.  He should tell Ellen that his heat was approaching so she could make the arrangements for him.

But Cas wanted to _call_ on him!  He scowled at his stomach trying to calm the butterflies that had taken flight there.  They definitely did not have his permission to make him squirm like that.  And Cas had no business waking them up like that either.  The feeling left Dean both excited and terrified.  He was excited because Cas, as much as he hated to admit it, was exciting; the terror came from how similar the butterflies felt to the nervous tingles he got back with Alistair. 

Ellen disrupted him before his could go down that treacherous lane, and he could have kissed her for that.  “Get your ass outta bed, Winchester!”  Dean grinned and stood, doing his best to clean the mess he’d made.  “I don’t care how tired you are from going four rounds with the sheriff!  It is time to get up!”

“I’m comin’!” he shouted back.  He really appreciated Ellen.  She never barged in and even let the omegas lock their doors, if they had locks.  Of course she had a key to all the locks, but she kept them in her office and rarely used them.  Dean, since he’d been there for a long while (what was it, three years now?), he was lucky enough to get a room with a door that locked. 

“Well hurry it up, boy!  I gotta talk to you ‘n’ Lilith about some stuff.

That wasn’t good.  That meant that he was going to have to think about Devil’s Toll again.  He sighed.  At least he was seeing Cas tonight again.  God damn it!  He needed to stop doing that!  Cas shouldn’t get him so…ugh, no.  The only reason he was so excited about Cas was because his heat was coming on.  That was it.

He put the last bullet-shaped tube of lipstick back in its place on his dresser.  Ellen was caught up with Brady getting hanged too.  Not that Dean had known beforehand.  If he had, he’d have warned someone, _anyone_.  He was well liked in town, someone would listen.  But even if Dean hadn’t known, it made sense, the way he kept hounding Lilith and acting like he owned the town, even though he’d just been a teller down at Crowley’s bank.

But that was how Dean found himself sitting down at the bar, facing Ellen as she hypnotically dried glasses that weren’t wet.  Lilith sat beside him, silent and smirking as ever.  Dean didn’t know what it was about her, but she made him very uneasy.  Just her smell was enough to raise the hair on the back of his neck.  Sam had tried to tell him it was nothing, just biology telling him not to mate with another omega.  Dean had stopped complaining after that, but he knew there was another reason.   After all, none of the other omegas affected him like that.

Regardless, here they sat.  Side-by-side, quiet, and waiting to Ellen to start speaking.  She sighed a few minutes later and set the tumbler down.  Ellen’s smell was comforting, usually.  She was a surrogate mother to him.  He’d shared countless teary embraces with her throughout the years.  He just hoped that Sam was able to call Bobby “Dad”.  Ellen glanced between them.

“I assume you both know what happened yesterday?”

“Brady got hanged,” Dean said under his breath.  Lilith glanced at him and nodded.

“Yeah, well, he was Devil’s Toll, apparently.  I just wanted to know if either uh you knew anything about that?”

Dean shrugged and shook his head.  “It makes sense, but I never seen him.  I mean, I seen him, but…here.  Not with other Devil’s Toll.”

“The only times I’d ever seen him were here, when he was harassing me.”

Ellen blew out another long breath through pursed lips.  “Whew! For a second I thought I was gonna hafta call sheriff Cas back in!  Speakin’ of, was he good to ya’ last night Dean?  I need to tell him not to come back?”  That was another thing he loved about Ellen.  She was more interested in keeping her omegas happy than she was in making money.  It just so happened that happy omegas let her earn a little money.

“Naw, Ma,” Dean looked back down at his hands and fiddled shyly.  She grinned down at him, then shook her head and returned to seriousness.

“Alright, so if neither of you knew about Brady, then we gotta be extra careful from now on.  Neither of you get any johns from outta town.  And you get one whiff, I mean one single little whiff of funny business, you get outta there and grab me or Benny, or take care of it yourself,” she glanced at Dean with those last words.  Dean had handled his share of unruly assholes.  He’d taught some of the other omegas a few handy fighting moves too.  Once he’d thrown a female alpha from the second story because she kept trying to claim-bite him, even after he’d told her about seventeen times that he didn’t belong to her.  At eighteen he drew the line and sent her flying.  What was her name again?  Bela?  Yeah, it was Bela, the “traveling saleswoman” who sold stolen items for exorbitant prices.

Anyway, the point was Dean could stand his on in a fight, even if it was against an alpha.  Which is why this whole _Cas thing_ was bothering him.  Cas made him act like a shrinking omega.  Like those prettied up girls and men block-printed in the newspapers or omega romance books.  He shifted in his seat and tried to focus back on what Ellen was saying because apparently, she was still talking.

“You two hear?  I’ll pay to send you elsewhere if that’s what I gotta do to keep you safe.”

“Won’t be necessary, Ellen.  We’ve dealt with them before,” Dean said with a rap of his knuckles on the bar.

“Dean,” she warned.

“Yeah, yeah, I’ll just go get the others up.”

“Fine.  Lily, would you help ‘im?”

“Of course Ellen.”  Lilith’s voice was high and soft.  Just like a perfect little omega’s should be.  Dean couldn’t help but curl his lip in anger, since he definitely wasn’t ashamed, so it had to be angry.

It was just…maybe if he’d been a girl, this whole omega thing might have been a little easier.

Not that it was easy for female omegas in any stretch of the word.  Dean heard a new horror story every time a new girl came crying through those doors, begging for protection.  This one wasn’t a virgin, and therefore was considered “worthless” in kind society.  That one didn’t want to marry her betrothed, or, like Dean, the other presented as an omega and got turned out of the family.  Dean felt the worst for Gilda.  Poor girl was born to an omega mother, whose partner turned them both out.  Hadn’t even presented yet.  The alpha just told Gilda’s ma to call if the baby turned out to be an alpha.  Dean shook his head as he mounted the stairs, Lilith right behind him.  Dean put it out of his mind.  Right now he needed to get Madison and Garth up.  Garth was the only other male omega at the Roadhouse.  He was a little goofy, Dean admitted, but he was also sweet as they came.  He rarely took johns to his room.  He liked the dancing more than the moaning.  He opened his door while rubbing the sleep out of his left eye.

“Oh hey Dean. Time to get up?”

“Yup.”

To Dean’s surprise, Garth turned back to his bed and began shoutin’ right down at the alpha in his bed.  When the alpha didn’t move fast enough, Garth began tossing pillows and ripping sheets.  Dean just watched transfixed with a stupid grin on his face as Garth kicked the tired alpha woman out of his room.  She clutched her clothing to her naked chest and scowled at Dean as she passed him.  Garth grinned triumphantly.

Dean had to laugh at that.  Poor, goofy-lookin’ Garth was a small thin thing; he was built more like an omega than a man.  The same as Dean, only opposite.  Dean looked down the open hall of doors and saw that in his conversation, he’d lost his chance to wake Madison.  She strutted out of her room in the same thing as Dean: bloomers.  She stretched and gave a soft moan when nothing popped into place.  Dean slapped her breast as he walked by.

“Dean Winchester!” she shouted.  Oh yeah, she was awake now.  He bit his smile down and ran.  This was a game they’d played since she’d shown up, penniless and mute.  They raced down the stairs and around the bottom floor.  Dean eventually cornered himself in the bar to give Madison a break.  The young girl had a weak heart, so Dean never let this carry on too long.  As it was now, she grinned evilly and raised her claws threateningly.

“Please have mercy!” he fake-begged from his place pressed against the wall. 

“You asked for this, Winnie!”  She closed in on him and gripped his sides without any hesitation.  Dean burst out laughing and crumpled to the floor.  She let up after a quick tweak of his piercings.  Then she stood before him, hands on her hips and a smirk pulling her lips to one side.  She offered him a hand.  Taking it, they both grinned at each other.  Garth and Sarah leaned over the bar at them and tutted playfully.  Ellen only rolled her eyes.

“Would ya’ll get dressed now?  Benny’s gonna be in soon.”

“El-len!” came the collective sigh.  None of the omegas liked getting dressed after a good night.  Sarah wasn’t wearing any bloomers and Amy was completely nude.

“Hey, you rather I fire ‘im and run the business without an alpha?”  The omegas grumbled quietly and headed to their rooms.  “Yeah, that’s what I thought.”

When they all came back, Benny was there along with eight plates of food sitting on the bar.  Tammi didn’t live in the house, and Amelia had been too sick to eat recently.  In a few more days, they’d probably be able to smell the pregnancy on her.

“So,” Gilda asked as they all dug into their eggs and bacon, “How’d it go with the sheriff last night, Dean?  How is he in bed?”

Dean laughed and set his fork down.  “You would not believe it.  He’s a really kinky son of a bitch.  Let me tell you!  Ropes, a-and whips!”

“What?”

“Sheriff Cas?”

“He couldn’t be!”

Dean began choking on his own laughter when Benny caught his eye.  Benny could always tell when he was lying.  Dean didn’t know how, but it made things easier between them, so it didn’t really matter.  Ellen leaned over the bar, propped up by her elbows.

“Would you quit lyin’ to us boy?  Give us details!”  She practically rolled her eyes as she said it.  Dean didn’t know how she knew either, but she was like his mother, so he just grinned sheepishly at the plate in front of him.

“He wants to call on me tonight.”

The group gasped with excitement, but Lilith and Benny snorted.  Dean focused on the positive reaction.    Sarah propped her head on his shoulder and giggled, “Oh Dean, sweetheart!  That’s just perfect!  You told him yes, right?”  Dean smiled, but shifted uncomfortably.

“Well, I mean I’m flattered and all, but I don’t think it’ll work out.  What with prostitutin’ being illegal and all.”

“Dean Winchester, don’t you dare cut the stem before the flower buds!  Cas ain’t like other alphas,” Gilda shook a finger at him.  “Why just the other week he returned my momma’s old gold and pearl comb.  Some asshole snatched it from my room the mornin’ after.  He didn’t even know my name.  Just kept askin’ around.”

“I know he ain’t like other alphas,” Dean whined back at her.  “He was so drunk off the whiskey he passed right out.  Didn’t put a hand on me.”

“Do you want him to call on you tonight?  I can tell him to come back tomorrow?”  Benny suggested.

“I don’t know.  I mean, I need the money so I should probably take an alpha tonight…”

“Dean, if anyone needs a break around here it’s you.  You run yourself ragged tryin’ to keep tabs on everyone,” Ellen reminded him.  “Don’t get me wrong, I love you for it, but you need a break.  Plus you got your heat comin’ on.  Take the night off and let Cas see you.  That is an order.”

“If you say so.”

Dean and the rest of the girls wolfed down their breakfasts after that.  It was almost one in the afternoon by the clock behind the bar.  They gotta get ready for their show tonight and then get all rehearsed and warmed up.  Tomorrow was Saturday which meant they’d be learning new songs and dances.  Dean hoped his heat wouldn’t interfere.  He stood backstage with the others in front of the long mirror panel they had.  Each omega was in some stage of undress.  Dean was only wearing his bloomers and chemise.  He always had Tammi lace his corset and she’d gotten in late that afternoon.  Plus he didn’t want to have to deal with putting on his skirts and hose and garters just yet.  They had to get warmed up still, and he’d learned early that stretching in hose was basically asking for holes.  Tessa and Amy worked on tuning their strings, while Sarah plunked away on the piano.  Garth led the rest of the omegas in stretching.  They traded quick jibes and stupid jokes between themselves while they hefted legs out of place.  Dean was still trying to get all his splits.  He glanced jealously over at Gilda.  Not only did she have perfectly tanned skin, but she could go from split to split without even getting up.  She stuck her tongue out and winked at him.

They returned to the dressing room backstage to put on the rest of their clothes and makeup.  Tammi pulled and pulled at Dean’s laces until they were nice and tight.  He did the girls’ eyeliner, and Lilith did the lipstick.  They could all do their own makeup, but they liked this system.  It gave everyone a job, made everyone feel useful.  Gilda ran scales with him once he was all prettied up.  The other omegas joined in if they could.

To be truthful, this was Dean’s favorite part of the day.  There was a certain kind of productive idleness about it.  He could let routine take over for him, and still actively participate in conversation or physical activities, like lifting Tessa so she could light the stage chandelier.  It was something for him to fall into, like a pair of old boots.  Ones without heels.  God he hated women’s boots.  They never fit his feet right.

Time flew and soon Dean was back where he was the night before.  The order and dances changed every night, so Dean sighed in relief when Ellen told him he didn’t have any solos that night.  He was mainly back up dancing for Lilith and Tammi, along with playing guitar for the second half of the show.  As he entered stage left the first time, he desperately tried not to think of Cas.

‘Is he here?  Is he watching?  Why would he come to watch you?  He’s not interested in that.  He’s not here, why would he be?’

And that’s when he noticed a hunched and nervous figure at the bar.  He knew immediately it was Cas.  If the posture didn’t tip him off, the coat and dark head of hair would have.  Dean let his smile turn genuine for a moment.

But he had a job to do, and damn the sheriff if he wasn’t going to do it.  Dean focused on the feel of strings twanging under his fingers and the thump of feet on the stage.  He could feel his regulars leering at him from the audience, sloshing drinks over themselves and shouting at him.  He could ignore them easily. Keeping his eyes off Cas’s hesitant form was a different matter.  Every once in a few beats, Dean thought they might have made eye contact across the hazy room, but it was hard to tell.

Dean took a bow with all the other omegas at the end of the performance.  He was secretly happy it was finally over.  He and the rest of the musicians left stage quickly to let the dancers and singers lap up the attention they’d earned.  That’s how it always went.  The musicians got a little bit of a break between performing and _performing_.  Dean took a wet rag and wiped most of the paste and powder off his face.  There were coal smudges around his eyes.  Tessa snatched the cloth out of his hands.

“Let me do that for you, lover-boy.”

“What would I do without you?”

“You’d look like a goddamn coon on your first promenade with the sheriff, and that’s just embarrassin’.”

She gently wiped his face off again, focusing her attention on the soft skin under his eyes.  When she was done, she reapplied some powder and pinched his cheeks roughly.  “There you go!  All set, Winnie.”

“Thank you kindly, missus.” He checked himself in the mirror and flattened out his chemise sleeves.  He let his calloused fingertips trace down the boning of his corset, just to make sure it was still there.  He glanced at his skirt, all hiked up and indecent, and then decided to just strip it off.  Bloomers looked like trousers anyway, right?  Tessa helped him change his hose into something sturdier, and swapped his boots for a more comfortable pair.  Madison poked her head in and said with a smile, “Ellen’s comin’ this way Dean!  You ready?”

Dean didn’t even bother answering, just took a deep breath and nodded.  A knock on the bar-side door came not even three seconds later.  Tessa opened the door and Ellen stepped in.  “Oh, Dean dear,” she lilted, “It seems you’ve got a gentleman caller!”

“Oh, Lord!  A gentleman caller! You hear that girls?”

“Oh, Winnie!” they all called back.  There were only about four of them backstage, but they all knew to play along.

Dean followed Ellen quietly with a smile on his face.  The other alphas around the saloon were all busy, too focused on what was happening in the light of the stage chandelier to notice Ellen and Dean sneaking along the edges of the room in the shadows.  Castiel stood at the bar gripping his hat in front of his stomach, gazing at the ground.  Ellen stood between them.

“I’ve already explained the rules to Mr. Novak here,” she said calmly.  This kind of thing didn’t happen often, but Ellen made sure to have a system anyway.  She didn’t want any “gentlemen callers” leaving her omegas beaten and broken.  Dean nodded and gave a shy glance at Cas.  Cas returned the gaze, but coughed and broke eye contact quickly.  Dean stifled a laugh.  “And you know curfew is at midnight,” she raised an authoritative finger to Dean.  He nodded silently.  She let a quick breath out her nose and left them.  Since Cas seemed to be more interested in the grain of wood on the bar than Dean, he grabbed one of the sheriff’s hands.

“You wanna go outside, Sheriff?”

“I’d like that, yes.”  Dean threw a quick glance over to Benny, another one of Ellen’s rules about callers.  Benny winked in understanding, and Dean led Cas out the front door.  There was a bench across the road next to some hitching posts and a trough.  As they sat together, Dean made sure to look for a stocky silhouette in the closest window.  Benny was too good to them, Dean thought.  One of the only good alphas he’d ever come across.  Then again, there was an amazing smelling alpha right next to him.  And he was just…twiddling his thumbs.

“No offense, Sheriff, but this is the most boring night I’ve had in this town,” Dean teased gently.

“I-I apologize, it’s just,” he licked his lips uncomfortably.  Dean tracked the movement with a hidden smirk.  “You make me rather nervous.”

Dean felt his eyebrows shoot up and his jaw drop.  “ _You’re_ nervous?”  Cas fiddled with the edge of his hat and refused to make eye contact with Dean.  “The hell do _you_ have to be nervous for?”

“I should apologize, I’m afraid I very little experience in these matters.”

“What matters?”

“It’s just that you are rather handsome, and your smell is just so compelling, and I can’t help but want to be around you.”  Dean tried to repeat his question, but Cas kept rambling.  “I’m afraid I did not think this through. Maybe it was a mistake-”

“Hold it one second, Cas!”  Dean took the hat out of Cas’s hands so he’d stop fidgeting.  “You ain’t got nothin’ to worry about.  And this wasn’t no mistake, either.”  Now it was Dean’s turn to be bashful; he looked down at Cas’s hat and gently reshaped it.  “Truth is I been lookin’ forward to this all day.”

“Oh.”  Cas finally looked at Dean’s face.  Dean let their eyes linger for a while.  He knew Cas’s were a deep blue color that reminded him of the sky just before the summer storm clouds rolled in, but the night stole the color away from Cas’s face.  It was kind of a shame, Dean thought.  Suddenly they both coughed and broke eye contact.

“S-so you think I smell good?”

“Incredible,” Cas mumbled shyly.

“I kinda think you smell good too.”

“Thank you.”

And it was quiet between them again.  Dean found his thoughts careening out of his control.  Benny caught his eye from inside the saloon, and Dean gave him a small wave automatically.  Benny nodded and went back to work.  He’d check in again in a minute or two, but Dean was mostly confident that Cas wouldn’t try anything unholy.  A thought struck him.

“What exactly do you hope to get outta this?”  Cas seemed surprised by Dean’s suspicious tone.

“Whatever you’re willing to give me I suppose.”

“And the hell is that supposed to mean?  You get your satisfaction outta callin’ on your fucks?”  Cas’s eyes grew wide at the attack.  Dean might have felt bad if he weren’t so self-righteous.

“I-I don’t-”

“So you take me out a few times and you think you get a free night? Last night was the last _free_ night too, sweetheart.  You lost out.”  Dean was just about to get up and strut back into the Roadhouse.

“Wait, what are you talking about?” Cas sputtered.  He stood after Dean and took his wrist.  Dean would have struggled against the grip had it actually been tight.  But it was gentle, like Cas wouldn’t force him to stay. “I don’t want a free night of sex, Dean.  I want to have conversations with you and learn more about you.  What I meant was that in this…relationship, if that’s what it is, you may choose how it proceeds.”  He snapped his jaw shut and swallowed.  Then he mumbled, “Dean, I was hoping that perhaps after calling on you a few times, Ellen might allow me to court you.”  Then he let go of Dean’s arm.  Dean didn’t move.  He stood there, Cas’s hat still in his hand, just thinking about what Cas had said.

“Y-You wanted to court me?”

“If you’d let me.”  Cas slumped back onto the bench.  “But not if you don’t want me to.”

“I have conditions,” Dean said a little too loudly.  He turned back to face Cas.  “Until the courting starts, I get to keep working at the Roadhouse.  You don’t come ‘round here with gifts or nothing, you got that?  No money either.  And you don’t get shit neither, you got that?”  Cas nodded his head, the whites of his eyes visible.  “And you don’t get to braggin’ either.  People ain’t gonna wanna sleep with an omega they thinks got an alpha.  No claimin’ ‘til I say so.”

“I understand.  I accept your conditions.”  Dean tried to hide his grin.  Cas was a complete pushover.  Rather, he was a pushover for Dean.  Dean had seen Cas on the job, and knew that he could be terrifying, just like any other alpha with a gun could be.  Dean sat back down and placed Cas’s hat back on his head.

“And you might not wanna come ‘round the Roadhouse durin’ business either.  You could get all jealous and destroy the place.”

“You’re probably right.”

That wasn’t the reaction Dean had expected.  He’d thought Cas would deny it, or at least insist he visit every night.  Cas was so submissive for an alpha.  Or maybe he was only submissive for Dean.  The thought made Dean’s stomach flip.  He scowled down at his knees.

“What’s the matter?”

“Nothing,” Dean pouted.

“Then why are you so tightly drawn?”

“Don’t know what you mean.”  Cas stretched his arm slowly towards Dean.  They both flinched slightly when their skin touched.  Cas wrapped a thick hand around Dean’s forearm and untangled his arms from each other.

“You’re all closed on yourself like you’re thinking about something too hard.”

“You made this too easy, and it’s doing things to my instincts.”  Cas chuckled lightly.  “It ain’t funny!”

“I apologize, but you say it like you don’t do the same to me.”  Dean thought on it for a moment.  Oh, so that was why Dean was getting exactly what he wanted.

“Yeah, but maybe I don’t wanna be all messed up in the head.”

“You aren’t messed up in the head, Dean.  You’re an omega.”

“Yeah, and you make me messed up in the head,” Dean retorted.  But he scooted closer to Cas.  He felt Cas’s breathing catch, and smiled to himself.  Oh yes, he definitely had an effect on Cas.  “I don’t like alphas, and I don’t like you.”  Dean knew that last part was barely true.  Apparently, so did Cas.  He gave a nervous giggle and shifted closer to Dean.

“Do you always fight yourself on things like this?”

“Yes.”

“Why?”

Dean shrugged and grunted.  Cas sighed and leaned back against the bench.

“I have not known you long, Dean Winchester, but that does not change the fact that I have trusted you implicitly from the moment we met.”

Dean swallowed thickly as the weight of Castiel’s words pressed down on him.

“There have been times when that trust has wavered, but it has always been there.  I hope that one day you might have that same trust in me.”

The problem was that Dean already did trust Cas.  He was refusing that trust and forcing it out of his mind.  Dean didn’t like fighting himself, but his dislike for alphas ran deeper.  But no other alpha had ever treated him with so much respect, save Charlie, Benny, and a few others around town.  And unlike those alphas, Cas smelt like heaven.  He was all cinnamon and dew drops. Dean fiddled with the hem of his bloomers.  Fuck, he was a walking, talking, gawking cliché of an omega.

Dean didn’t know why he did what he did next, except that he let his defenses down slightly.  Cas’s brow creased in confusion for a moment, but he let Dean lean against him regardless.  And then Dean scented him.  Of course Dean would scent him!  Why not just skip the courting altogether?  Cas’s scent made him feel _safe_ , and _at home_ , and Dean didn’t think he’d be able to ever forgive Cas for that.

He gripped the sleeve of Cas’s shirt with a rigid paw.  Cas somehow managed to rest his chin on Dean’s head and rake a hand through his hair. 

“Is this your explicit permission to see you again?” Cas asked hesitantly.

“I suppose it is.”  Cas let out a deep sigh at that.  Dean didn’t know how long they sat like that.  It could have been minutes or hours for all he was concerned.  The only reason he moved was because Cas shifted beneath his cheek.

“Dean, I think Benny is calling you to come inside,” he whispered.

“I wasn’t sleeping.”

“No, of course not.  But you might want to hurry if you want to see me alive again.  Benny doesn’t look too happy.”

“That old man’s never happy,” Dean yawned.  They both stood, and Cas offered his arm, like Dean was some kind of fancy gentleman.  It made him smile bashfully, but he took the arm regardless.  He couldn’t tell for the lack of light, but Cas’s posture told Dean that the sheriff’s face was red and flustered too.  Dean untangled when they reached the door.  The only people left in the bar were the sad drunks and Ellen and Benny.  Benny really did look livid, with a clenched jaw and narrowed eyes, but Dean was too relaxed to care.  Cas stepped back to the street to give Dean space to see he wasn’t going to be pursued into the bar.

“Good night Dean.  I’ll see you again sometime soon?”

“You’re not going to get your good night kiss?” He teased. Cas actually took a step back in shock.  The poor alpha really was a bit nervous, wasn’t he?

“I-I don’t-” he stammered, “I didn’t mean to, or rather…”

“Cas?”

“I would very much like to kiss you, i-if you’d allow me.”

“Come here,” Dean said as he waved Cas forward.  As Cas stepped up, Dean felt his pulse jump.  Which was ridiculous, since he did this kind of thing all the time.  But the light from inside illuminated Cas’s hopeful face, and Dean couldn’t help but surge into the kiss.  It was simple, chaste.  Dean wasn’t sure how he felt about it.  His stomach fluttered again, but in his mind, it left him lacking.  He couldn’t help but chase after Cas when they parted.  Cas firmly took Dean’s shoulders in hand and held him back.

“I’m not sure much more would be a good idea.” Cas’s eyes shifted nervously.  “As much as I’d like to stand her and kiss you all night, I’m getting a rather murderous look from Mr. LaFitte,” he murmered awkwardly against Dean’s lips.

“Then get goin’, you no good sheriff,” Dean said lightly.  He pushed Cas gently off of him and watched as he tipped his hat and disappeared into the night.  Once Dean was on the other side of the door, he had to admit that Cas was definitely a suitable partner for him.  He would accept Cas’s advances, and he would allow himself to enjoy the courtship.  Cas was going to ask for his hand.  It would be a while, but the thought almost made him dizzy.  He smirked at the thought of his father yelling how no one would want a whiny omega bitch like Dean.

“Well, Daddy, you were wrong again,” he whispered to himself.

Benny hadn’t moved from his place behind the bar, but he stared harshly at Dean.  Ellen was announcing last call.  Dean glanced at the clock.  It was almost three. So he and Cas had been out for a couple hours.  He wondered what they’d talk about the next time Cas called on him.  Or when Cas would call on him.  Or when the courting would start.  He sighed contentedly.  He should be angry with himself for giving in to his omega sentiments.  But wasn’t.  The strange lack of self-hatred made him feel light, buoyant, even.

He gave a nod and a smile to Ellen and hopped up the stairs.  He didn’t like the idea of sleeping alone in his big bed, but decided that having it empty was better than having some sweaty overbearing alpha in it.  Cas had been it last night.  That had been strange, but also nice.  Dean didn’t mind sleeping next to him.  He’d only wanted to see what Cas was all about, really.  That’s why he had Benny serve Cas up all that alcohol.  The smell and look of Cas had ignited curiosity. And the night together in his bed had birthed trust for Dean.  And yet Dean surprisingly had very few qualms about his situation.  He supposed it was best he just allow himself, or rather his instincts to have their way.

The next morning was a blur of omegas asking this and that about Cas.

“Did he kiss you?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Did you kiss him back?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Was he a gentleman about it?”

“As much as he could be.”

“Is he gonna call on you again?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Do you like him?  You wanna see him again.”

“I suppose.”

“What’s he smell like?”

“How much money you think he makes?”

“This isn’t just some fling is it?”

“What if he takes you away?”

“Are you gonna marry him?”

“His eyes are blue, right?”

Dean just ate his oatmeal.  They obviously cared more about asking the questions than getting answers.  There'd hardly been a breath between the girls’ voices, and honestly, Dean had no clue who’d asked which question.  Ellen came up to him and leaned over the bar.

“How close to your heat do you think you are, sweetheart?”

“Couple days maybe.”

“You want me to lock you up?  Or should I call Cas to help you through it?”

“I’ll think about it.”

“Let me know Dean.  I hate seeing you go through that, you know.”

“I know, Ellen.  You tell us that each time one of us goes into heat.”

“It’s a cruel fact of nature.  I’m just glad I don’t gotta do it.” Dean rolled his eyes and sighed.  His heats weren’t particularly fun, not that they were as bad as they used to be.  It was mainly the loneliness that got to him, not the physical pains.  Thinking of Cas helping him through it made a shiver run up his spine.  He smiled into his oatmeal.

“It ain’t that bad.”

~

Dean raced over to Charlie and Ash’s pharmacy after breakfast to see what they were up to.  Charlie greeted him warmly as she always did.  “Well look who’s here!  Thought you’d be all holed up with the sheriff,” she winked.  She and Ash were in the middle of moving inventory boxes for some reason.

“God damn, news moves quick in this town,” Dean grumbled.

“Didn’t have to travel.  I saw you two last night all curled up in each other.  The street ain’t exactly the most private area to have a rendezvous,” she said with a glance back at Dean.  Ash snickered, so Dean shot him a dirty look and a choice finger.

“I had to stay close so Benny could keep an eye on us.”

Charlie shrugged her shoulders.  “Well I coulda told you right away that the sheriff’s character is impeccable.  That man’s on the straight and narrow if ever there was a good man.  Not a trace of deception in his scent.”

“Yeah, well I don’t make the rules, and he makes Benny shifty.”

“Of course he makes Benny shifty!  Benny’s wanted for murder,” Ash supplied.  Dean shushed him immediately.

“Would you keep your voice down?”

“Ain’t no one else here,” Ash grouched.  He never was much of a morning person.

“How’s Gilda doin’?” Charlie asked suddenly.

“Same as she always is,” answered Dean.  He knew Gilda and Charlie had a thing going on, but it was hard for Dean to figure out because the town’s general store owner, Dorothy, somehow fit in there too.  Dean leaned against the counter with a heavy sigh.

“Oh, you got it bad for him don’t you?” Charlie hopped down from the stool she’d been balancing on.  “You do, don’t you?”

“Hey, hey!” Dean protested.  Charlie was poking him in the ribs from across the counter.  “He’s…nice.  And I might be considering him as a potential candidate for my heats.”

Charlie’s jaw dropped into a smile and she wrapped her knuckles quickly against the counter.  “I can’t believe it!  Dean Winchester is finally takin’ an alpha for his heats? Someone call Chuck over at the printin’ press!  We got a front page article all ready to go!”

“I said I was thinkin’ about it!” Dean protested.  Ash just laughed at Charlie’s theatrics.

“Naw, Dean, I’m just happy for you.  Cas is a good man.  You deserve no less.”  Dean felt his cheeks flush, so to hide his red face, he pretended to fix the chain around his neck.  Once the amulet was hidden under his chemise, he glanced back at the workers.

“So what’s the town gossiper got for me today?” Dean asked Ash.  Ash had an easy smile and a strange haircut, but he had an air of peacefulness to him.  He grinned from under another box and grunted as he set it down.

“Well, I been snoopin’ you know?  Heard Missouri talkin’ to the pastor all worried and such about, well, you know…”

“The hangin’,” Charlie finished with a nod.

“Yeah, the hangin’,”Ash repeated, “Says there’s a storm brewin’.  She told Cas, but he ain’t puttin’ too much faith in her.  He’s an educated man, after all.” Ash’s smile grew wider.

“Ash, you lived in New York for a while if I remember correctly,” Charlie said.  She had her hands on her hips and a playful smirk on her face.  “Remind me what you were doin’?”

“I was usin’ college as an excuse to chase some omegas,” he sighed.  Dean laughed at his wistful expression.

“And you learned all sorts of things about electricity and explosives.  You’re just as learned as Cas is.”

“Yeah, but I didn’t graduate.”

They all looked at one another, a little shocked at the unsaid notion before them.  Finally, Dean stuttered out, “He did…graduate, right?  He had to have finished college, didn’t he?”

“I don’t know why he’d be a law man if he did,” Charlie mused, her eyebrows drawn together.  Dean shifted in his seat uncomfortably.  He knew why.  And he knew that Cas hadn’t finished college, but he couldn’t figure out how he knew.  He supposed that Missouri must feel the same way most of the time.

“So uh, what did the pastor say to Missouri?” Dean got the conversation back on the right track.

“Mainly he was just consolin’ her.  Tellin’ her he’d talk to the sheriff.”

“Any other news?”  Ash always knew everything before anyone else, mainly because he was so well liked by everyone.  He had a good relationship with Missouri and Chuck as well, and they were always feeding him bits of information.  Pair that with Ash’s fly-trap of a memory, and you had a walking library of town history and gossip.

Ash scratched the back of his head.  “Hmm, not really.  A coupla travelers headed to the boardin’ house, but by the look of ‘em they’ll be passin’ along soon.”

Dean bobbed his head.  It was good that the only real news was a warning.  Even if that warning was relatively distressing.  Extremely distressing.  But maybe the “storm brewing” was a literal storm.  Missouri’s premonitions could be literal as well as figurative.  She even warned people against looking into what she said too far.  It wasn’t science like what Ash and Charlie did.  They experimented and measured.  Missouri felt and told.  Dean watched few more minutes as his friends struggled with their stock.

“Y’all need some help?”

“If you wouldn’t mind it,” Ash grunted from under a heavy box labeled ‘tonic’.  Dean hopped over the counter and spent the rest of his free morning reorganizing and tallying boxes with his friends.  He left around noon to head back down the street to the Roadhouse.  He was supposed to be thinking of new choreography and songs for the show, but his thoughts melted into one another.  Cas probably wouldn’t be back at the brothel during business hours until next week.  He might stop by in the morning to catch up with Ellen, but Dean would probably be sleeping when that happened.  But maybe if he went out into town more often, he’d catch the sheriff on the job.  He was supposed to be thinking about kicks and turns and flips he could improve on.  But maybe he could leave Cas a gift or something.  He was a pretty good cook.  All the omegas loved his biscuits and pies; Cas might like them too.  Dean could be a good omega who-

“Shit,” Dean swore under his breath.  That was not a thought he’d ever meant to have.  Dean wasn’t a good omega. He was too burly, too much muscle, too rough.  He didn’t do well when it came to handing over power, either.  He was too careful to give up the little power he had.

But maybe Cas didn’t really care.  He had been so refined and respectful last night.  Dean had expected Cas to fight him on at least one of his conditions.  Specifically, Dean had expected Cas to balk at the thought of Dean continuing his work, but Cas took it in stride, like he hadn’t thought Dean was being selfish.  For an alpha to allow their omega to continue sleeping with other people was unheard of.  Omegas were to be provided for.  Dean should have been elated, delirious with joy, that not only had an alpha taken a real interest in courting him like a proper person, but the same alpha was going to let him provide for himself and Sam a little while longer.  Maybe Cas would help him get a different job if they mated.  Dean had always wanted to work with horses.  Maybe he’d ask Bobby to take him as an apprentice.  Dean snapped back to reality as soon as his hand landed on the Roadhouse door handle.

He _should_ be happy, and he was.  But there was a niggling feeling in the back of his head, calling for his attention.  It wasn’t quite the same as the butterflies in his stomach from being with Cas; it was more like the slip and slide of satin and it made his thoughts coil.

Gilda and Madison were out on the stage stretching each other while Garth fiddled with his shoes behind them.  Dean pushed down the uneasy feeling in his ribs and mounted the stage with a grunt.  Garth looked up and smiled, but that smile dropped after a moment.

“Hey Gilda, Charlie was askin’ about you,” Dean said with a wink.  Gilda smirked to try and hide her red cheeks.

“Dean, what’s the matter?” Garth asked quietly.  “You look like you carryin’ something heavy.”

“Nothin’, Garth.  Just a little riled up after the last few days is all.”  Both Gilda and Madison gave him a sympathetic sigh and nod.  Between the hanging and Dean’s newly kindled romantic life, plus busy nights at the saloon, Dean was sure the uneasiness was just fatigue.  No use getting everyone else riled up too.

Except Lilith chose that moment to show her face.  Dean had never liked Lilith.  Even when they were with the Devil’s Toll, there was something about her that just set Dean the wrong way.  Maybe it was the way she took pride in her status as an omega.  She’d felt like she’d earned power, even if she went to bed bruised and bleeding every night from the shit they did to her.  She’d always said things like, “I’m their favorite,” and “It’s not so bad if you just take it.”  Dean vividly remembered one night when Lilith had come back to the omegas’ circle (Because God forbid they get a tent, or even be allowed to sleep near the posse) and said, “I’m just letting nature take its course.”  Dean had been young then, and her words kept him up all night.  What did that mean?  What was she saying?

Now it was different.  Lilith still made him uncomfortable, but he had mostly gotten over it.  Plus, she seemed to be much healthier in body and mind nowadays.  She clomped on to the stage ungracefully and the four others looked over at her.

“Little birdie told me that you got yourself a gentleman,” she said.  Her voice had always been high pitched, but soft.  Dean felt a pang of resentment.  She was the perfect omega.

“Maybe,” was all Dean gave in reply.

“Castiel Novak, sheriff of the town.  I just gotta think about what his designs on you are,” she slunk down the stage and over to him.  As she walked, the boards under her feet creaked.  “He coulda picked anyone, I mean anyone in this silly ol’ town and he picked you.”  She was standing chest-to-chest with him now, so Dean had to look down to maintain eye contact.  She gently reached up and readjusted the bow on his chemise.  “Hell, I even heard some alpha gals talkin’ ‘bout him.  He got them _real_ pretty eyes, big arms, oh and he smells divine, don’t you think Dean?”

Dean wasn’t sure what she was getting at, so he just said, “I suppose.”

Garth had backed away from them, unsure of what was happening.  Gilda and Madison were silently watching with wide eyes and open mouths.

“He’s the perfect alpha,” she leaned in to whisper her next words in his ear, “He deserves a perfect omega, don’t you think?”

Dean shoved her hand off his shoulder and clenched his jaw.  “What I think is that we ought to get to learnin’ some new song and dance numbers before we lose the light.”  He stepped back, only breaking eye contact when Lilith’s grin faded.

“I’ll go get the others,” Garth volunteered.  Then he was gone.  Lilith shrank backstage and returned when Ellen called everyone to start looking over the new sheet music she’d just bought from Charlie.  Dean felt off for the rest of the day.  He couldn’t remember how to strum his goddamn guitar let alone all these new dances he kept fumbling over.  Ellen even joked from her place in the front row, “If this is what one night off does to ya, then I ain’t lettin’ you go gallivanting off with the sheriff no more.”  Dean’s face grew hot and a few of the girls tittered behind him.  He was just glad when there was nothing else to learn.  He set his guitar down and took off his boots with a sigh.

That night was mostly quiet.  That was normal after a big night like the one before.  People were still too hung over from too much fun and sex to drag themselves through a (slow) day of work, and then another round at the saloon.  But that was all fine with Dean.  Between his thoughts of Cas, Missouri, and Lilith he was pretty occupied.  Ellen even had him working behind the bar with Benny in an attempt to drum up more liquor sales.  She only ever did that when she was drunk or sick or things were _real_ slow.  There was slow music playing, and the candles were lit low-like.  There might have been seven, maybe eight people sitting at the tables by the stage and four sad-looking alphas at the bar.  It smelt like alcohol and wood varnish.  Dean didn’t know how Benny and Ellen could stand it all day, but he put up with it.  Like he put up with drunk alphas calling him “sweet cheeks,” or “bottom boy.”  Like he put up with the ridiculous meaningful looks they’d try and give him as they ordered another round of whatever.

Dean had maybe ten more minutes of work by the clock on the wall.  Ellen never usually had him work past two on nights like these, regardless of where he was in the saloon.  Ten more minutes.  He could face ten more minutes of this shit.  He could-

No, no, that couldn’t be right.  His mind must have been playing tricks on him, because he knew that smell and it couldn’t be here. No, it couldn’t.  He felt dizzy.  He wretched.  The door swung closed with a crunching noise.  Boots clomped towards the bar with purpose.  Dean fell to his knees and dropped the glass he was wiping just seconds ago.  It sparkled like diamonds on the floor in pieces.  He gripped forearms harshly, making himself as small as he could.

“Dean?  Dean!”  Benny was on him in a hot second, but Dean was gone.

“Oh my, seems you got a broken one there, don’t you?” A thick voice came from above them.  Dean heard the man take a deep breath through the nose.  “Oh, the sweet smell of omega in heat.  And a particularly broken omega at that, aren’t I right Dean?”  Dean flinched at his name.  That voice was screaming at him.  How many times had he fought that voice out of his head?

“Who are you?” Benny yelled fiercely.  He’d given up on Dean and focused on the source of Dean’s panic instead.  “How do you know Dean?”

“Oh Dean and I go way back, don’t we, Dean?”

“Benny,” Dean gasped out, he clutched the alpha’s pant leg and pleaded desperately with his eyes.  “Please get Ellen.  Please.”  He was shaking, but he didn’t care.  Benny looked uncertain and almost tried to step away, but Dean refused to loosen his shaking fist.  So instead, Benny bellowed out her name.  It startled a few of the patrons out of their stupor, but it did nothing to deter their unwelcome guest.  Ellen skid to a halt at the end of the bar.  Dean saw the gleam in her eyes shift from confused to livid in a matter of seconds.

“You get the hell out of my saloon, and you don’t ever come back, you hear me you piece of shit?!” Ellen screamed at the top of her lungs.  She ripped the shotgun off the wall and cocked it.  Many of the drunks at the bar were scooting their way out at this point.  Ellen’s nostrils flared and her eyes flew back to Dean. “Dean, come here sweetie.”  He tried to crawl, but his shaking arms made it difficult.  Shivering, sobbing, and sniveling, he managed to hide behind her legs.  “I don’t want to see you or any of your disgusting friends in my saloon again, you hear me?  And you can bet the sheriff’ll know you’re here by morning’, too.”

“That’s the plan, dear,” the man laughed.  His teeth were just as yellow and rotted as Dean remembered, but the waves of alpha scent kept making him whine.

“Get the fuck out, Alistair!”  She fired a shot into the floor and re-cocked the rifle.  “I won’t tell you again!”

He threw a wide twenty dollar bill onto the bar and stood.  “For the…entertainment,” he said civilly.  Then he slithered out the door and let the darkness swallow him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> No idea when the next chapter will be up? Hopefully around the beginning of November, but we'll have to see. Oh, and the sex starts next chapter!
> 
> As always, bother me on [tumblr](http://bastetcg.tumblr.com)


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo this is like 3/4ths badly written smut. So like if that's not your thing, you can probably just skip to the ending paragraphs. Also, no picture because I've been really lazy, and I have the two nerds all drawn out NSFW-like, but there is no background at the moment, so once I finish it up, i'll add it in. So, uh, enjoy I guess?

Castiel had not expected to see or hear from Dean for at least a few days, but when Madison came screaming into the station that he was needed right away, he hadn’t exactly questioned it.  He was an officer after all.  He knew when he volunteered for this job he’d get called out at all hours of the day.  He glanced at the clock as he pulled his pants on.  Madison kept impatiently flitting around the downstairs, probably breaking things, but Cas just focused on getting dressed and downstairs.  Something had happened to Dean, that much was clear from Madison’s shouts, but between her cries and crashes, it was hard to tell what exactly that something was.  He just did his best to get down the stairs without killing himself in the darkness.

They raced through the empty dust streets to the Roadhouse together, but when they got there it was just as still as the rest of the town.  Madison motioned for him to follow her to the back entrance, and Cas followed.  Ellen was there just inside.  She let out a sigh of relief when she saw Cas.

“Oh thank God in heaven,” she said as she grabbed his arm.  “Dean’s in heat and he needs you right away.”  The moment the words left her lips the smell hit him.  He could feel the rush that came with the scent of a needy omega, but he choked it down.

“I’m not sure what you mean Ellen.”

“He’s in heat, and he specified that you were allowed to help him through it, if you so desire.”  She raised an eyebrow at him.  When he hesitated, she said, “It’s only gotten worse for him with age, you know,” under her breath.

“I’m just not so sure it’s a good idea, is all.  I had intended to court him, and-and-” He stumbled over the stairs as Ellen led him up in the darkness, and the sweet smell of Dean grew stronger.

“You can still court him after this, and I’m sure he’ll be mighty thankful to have his heat taken care of for him.”  As they neared Dean’s room, Cas could hear muffled cries that had his hackles raising.

“Uh-Alright, if you say so.  And Dean was specific about this?  He told you specifically?”

“As sure as the Mississippi flows to the sea,” Ellen sighed.  “Now go in there and make Dean a happy boy, would you?”  She turned the handle, pushed the door open, and then smacked Cas right on the rear, slamming the door shut after him. He turned to protest the rough action, but all he met was the lock clicking into place.  A muffled moan from across the room caught his attention.  Dean’s sheets were arranged in a sort of nest-shape around his sweating, shivering body.

“Dean?” Cas whispered.  The stench was oppressive, but exciting as well.  Cas felt his blood pooling in rather inappropriate places.  Or maybe it was appropriate given the situation.  He wasn’t too sure.  He stepped closer to the bed cautiously.  “Dean?”

“Cas…”

Cas had to clench his jaw and hold his breath to ignore how suggestive that sounded.  Dean shifted on the bed; Cas saw that he was completely nude.  That made sense, he supposed.  Dean stretched back onto his haunches with a pained groan.  Cas could smell a fresh wave of slick, and he had to think of the time Gabriel took a shit in a corn field to keep himself from jumping straight into Dean’s bed.

“Please Cas.  Come ‘ere,” Dean was pleading with him desperately.  He felt bad for ignoring an omega in distress, especially when it was _Dean_.

“But Dean, do you really want this?  Is this okay?”

“Cas, please!  I can’t fucking take this anymore!”  Dean sat on his heels and reached out half-heartedly towards him.  Dean must be exhausted.  Madison had mentioned on the way over that Dean never took any alphas or betas during his heat, since he was so afraid of getting “accidently” claimed.  Omega heats only got harsher and more taxing the older the omega went without a claim.  So Cas hesitantly stepped forward again.  And again.  And then he was at the edge of Dean’s bed, and Dean reached for his hand.

“Too many clothes.  Ain’t you hot?”  Dean was breathless, and his hands shook as he felt up Cas’s stomach.

“Oh, right.”  Cas began to unbutton his shirt a little frantically.  Dean sniffed the air and sighed.

“Smell good,” he mumbled into Cas’s pants.  He began mouthing at Cas’s cock through the coarse material, and Cas almost pulled away.  Almost.

It was rather surprising how fast Dean could work.  Combined with the smog of pheromones in the room, Dean’s mouth was heaven.  He was still struggling with the ties on Cas’s trousers, so Cas helped him as best he could.  Unsurprisingly, it was difficult to concentrate when Dean did…whatever _that_ was.  Dean’s dick was distracting too.  It kept giving little sympathetic jerks and dripped almost constantly.  Hopefully that meant Cas could help him finish off quickly.

“Finally,” Dean breathed against Cas’s undergarment.  The trousers got tossed somewhere.  Cas shrugged off his shirt too, and placed a knee on the bed.

“Are you sure?”

Dean grabbed him by the hips and threw him on the bed.  “Completely,” he growled.  Cas could honestly say he was surprised when Dean kissed him.  It was nothing like their kiss only days ago.  It was dirty and desperate.  As if to emphasize how needy Dean was, he dragged his dick slowly against Cas’s thigh and breathed heavily into Cas’s mouth.

“Really wanna taste you,” Dean mumbled against Cas’s stubble.  “Been thinkin’ about it a long time.”  Cas had to give a moan to that.  He’d be lying if he said he hadn’t thought about the same thing.  He was a little concerned about Dean getting him off first though, so he grabbed Dean’s arms firmly.

“There’ll be time for that later.  Let’s take care of you first.”

Dean whined ground his dick on Cas’s naked hip.  The smell of slick and desperate omega made Cas’s head go a little fuzzy, but managed to keep control of himself.  He needed to be careful about this.  He didn’t want to hurt Dean, after all.  So he gently coaxed Dean into changing positions.  Dean was sweaty all over, and he squirmed against the sheets, complaining that they were too hot.  Cas pried his knees apart quietly, looking up at Dean for any sign of hesitance.  All he saw was a look of confusion and badly restrained impatience.  It had been a while since Cas had done this, so he went slowly.

He took the head of Dean’s dick in his mouth, one hand on the shaft, the other sinking lower towards the slick pooling between Dean’s ass cheeks.  Dean’s squirming turned into thrashing.  Cas had to bring his hands to Dean’s hips to keep him from getting away.

“Cas, Cas,” Dean stuttured, “What are you-”  His own moaning cut him off.  Cas let Dean’s cock fall from his mouth.

“I’m trying to help you, if you’ll stay still long enough.”

After a few calming breaths, Dean responded with, “But you’re supposed to, you know.”  Dean’s eyes were hazy, and he wouldn’t look at Cas.  Not to mention how his chest heaved with every breath.

“Despite what you might think, Dean, you’re not the only one who has had some experience.  I know what I’m doing.  You asked for my help, so let me help you.”  He gave Dean a meaningful look, and waited for Dean to meet his eye and nod before continuing.  “No try to keep still, would you?”

He took Dean’s cock a little deeper this time, getting about half of it in his mouth before his gag reflex started giving him warning twitches.  He managed to slip a finger into Dean’s ass too.  He was glad there was such little resistance, it would mean that the prep wouldn’t take too long.  Not that Cas was against foreplay.  He just wanted Dean to feel better as soon as possible.

Dean’s legs quivered around Cas’s face.  He was trying desperately not to move, Cas could tell.  His eyes were shut, he was biting his bottom lip, and he was pushing his moans into grunts to try to hide them.  Cas didn’t particularly mind.  This was about whatever Dean needed.  Cas could tell he needed this.  The fact that he’d been confused earlier, like no one had done this for him before…maybe no one had?  Had Dean’s life as a prostitute meant that he was just a hole for an alpha to stick their dick in?  It would make sense, but the idea that not a single one had taken the time to make Dean look like this seemed like a sin to Castiel.

He added another finger and Dean’s eyes shot open.  Cas almost smiled around the dick in his mouth when Dean let out a low keening sound.

“Oh my God…” Dean groaned.

“It’s not good to take the Lord’s name in vain like that.”

“You just had a dick in your mouth,” Dean countered.  “You don’t get to say a damned thing about what’s good unless it involves putting your mouth back on…”

“That doesn’t make any sense.”

“ _You_ don’t make any sense.”  Dean was trying to act tough, Cas could see the hardness he was trying to hide behind, but he could do nothing to obscure his hands gripping the sheets like death or the tremble in his voice.

Cas added another finger and began searching for the bump he’d felt when he added the second finger.  Dean practically leapt off the bed when he found it a few thrusts later.  Cas alternated pushing his fingers in and out of Dean with rubbing gently against that spot.  Dean had forgotten about keeping himself quiet.  He was practically wailing, which both embarrassed and delighted Cas. Somehow, Dean’s hands had found their way into Cas’s hair too.  They kept trying to get Cas to back to sucking Dean’s dick, but Cas resisted them and retaliated by sucking bruises into his thighs instead.

“Cas,” Dean breathed out heavily, “Cas you gotta stop.”

“Why?” Cas immediately stopped mid-thrust.

“I’m gonna come if you don’t stop.”

“Isn’t that what you want?”

“Wanna come with you in me.”

“Dean, are you sure-”

“If you ask me again, I will crush your head with my thighs.”

“No need to get violent,” Cas said to himself.

He pulled his fingers out of Dean slowly, savoring the way Dean’s ass looked, the way it had felt.  He gulped and took a deep breath.  Dean took a sigh himself and scrambled to turn over onto his knees.  He looked back and canted his hips just right to slide Cas’s dick between his cheeks.  He smirked when Cas actually flopped over onto Dean’s presenting posture with a grunt.  Eventually Cas regained his composure.  He took to kissing the back of Dean’s neck, biting at his ears, and rocking his hips carefully, just giving Dean a fraction of what he wanted.

“Cas, hurry up!”

“Right, sorry.”  The words were breathy and uncoordinated.  Dean laughed softly to himself.  Cas lined himself up in silence.  The only noise in the room was Dean’s labored breathing.  As he slid in, Cas ran his hands over Dean’s shoulders and down his arms.  He was hot, practically burning from the inside.  They both groaned when Cas was fully seated inside Dean.

“You’re big,” Dean laughed.  He wiggled his hips and they both groaned again.

“I’m an alpha,” Cas responded.  “I’m supposed to be big.”

“No, I mean even for an alpha you’re big.  It’s nice.”  Dean had already gotten to work fucking himself on Cas’s dick, but Cas wasn’t too far behind.  He took Dean’s hips and tried to find a rhythm for them.  Dean had been pushing back in short shallow thrusts, just hoping to get some kind of satisfaction.  With Cas in control, the pace was slower, but he was looking for Dean’s prostate again.  Dean was so hot against Cas’s stomach, and the room filled with the sounds of skin slipping on skin.  He was shaking underneath Cas again, his elbows bending and finally giving out.

“Cas, I’m gonna,” he panted out.  “I’m real close.”

Cas didn’t say anything, just changed his angle, reveling in the way Dean constricted around him.  Dean called out Cas’s name a few times, encouraging him to move faster.  It took maybe four more strokes and Dean was shouting out his orgasm.  It felt amazing for Cas, having Dean pulse around him, but Cas was more focused on getting Dean through it gently by slowing down a little, kissing the side of his neck.

But Dean had gone quiet.  Cas stopped and listened.  Dean was still breathing, but he didn’t respond when Cas turned his head.  Oh, right.  It had taken Cas a second, but he remembered hearing about how omegas sometimes fell asleep after having sex during a heat.  He laughed softly, but then he realized how badly this could end up.  He hadn’t finished after all.

Did he keep going?  For some reason he didn’t think Dean would like that.  He wouldn’t want someone to do that to him after all.  So he eased out of Dean quietly; slick dripped off Cas’s dick and down the backs of Dean’s thighs.  There were a few bruises on both of them.  Cas didn’t really know where his came from.

He focused on Dean, who still had his ass in the air and his face crooked at an awkward angle.  Cas did his best to rearrange Dean on the bed in a more comfortable position and got a few content snores in return.  Cas sat with his back against the thin wood headboard of Dean’s bed, his dick still hard.  He sighed and decided to take care of himself while Dean slept.  It would be easier to fall asleep that way.  He was grateful for Dean’s slick, since it made his stokes so much easier.  He was still rather effected from being inside Dean, so his breathing picked back up as his hand glided up and down his cock.  He glanced over at Dean’s sleeping form and almost came just from the sight.

Dean was softly smiling in his sleep, his freckles stood out in the light, and his nose twitched.  He looked so young, Cas thought.  Cas never wanted to see Dean any other way.  He didn’t want Dean to be afraid, or sad.  He didn’t want Dean to have to sell himself to any alpha or beta who offered money.  The smell of omega satisfaction leaked into the room.  That was good.  Hopefully that meant that the heat would be over quickly, especially since they’d taken the edge off of it.  CAs thread his fingers through Dean’s short hair.  It was thinner than it looked, but also softer.  Dean snuffled in his sleep and shifted closer to Cas’s warmth.  That was right, omegas could experience a sudden drop in body temperature after climax.  Cas scooted closer and pulled Dean’s unconscious form against his body.

It was nice to have Dean’s breath on his shoulder and his hair under his chin.  Dean’s scent washed over him again.  It was sweet and full-bodied and it made Cas’s breath hitch.  He supposed it was the alpha instinct in him that felt pride in Dean’s state.  He couldn’t help but feel his chest puff up with the thought of ‘I did this.  I made him smell so happy.’ He sped his hand up.  He wanted to get off as soon as he could.  Dean snuggled up closer to him, instinctually scenting him, pressing his cold nose to Cas’s neck.  Cas felt the odd sensation of rising on a wave.  He lost it a few times, as he usually did when he masturbated, but eventually he came.  He grit his teeth to keep it quiet, but a silent grunt made its way out despite his efforts.  He glanced at the thick white making a trail down his wrist.  To clean it off, he grabbed his shirt from the floor and wiped up the mess.  It was the best orgasm he’d had in a long time, mainly because of Dean.  After he got the sheets back on the bed, he put his left hand in Dean’s hair again.  He made a happy noise, so Cas planted a soft kiss to Dean’s hair.

Then he curled up around the other’s prone form.  That was probably instinctual too.  The alpha had to protect the omega.  Cas knew Dean could handle himself, in fact Dean would probably protest that he didn’t need Cas’s protection.  And he’d probably be right, but Cas was still strangely wary of other alphas getting at Dean.  Cas wanted to block them out, keep people who would hurt or use Dean away.

He must have drifted off after that because the next thing he knew he was waking up in a rather pleasurable way.  The room was dark, and it smelt strongly like Dean’s slick.  There were wet noises coming from under the covers.  Oh, and there was something very warm and wet around Cas’s dick.  He moaned when Dean’s tongue did some strange wiggling or something, he didn’t know.  It was hard to concentrate.

“Sorry,” Dean said.  He pulled the covers so they settled around his hips, leaving him open to the air.  Cas shuddered at the sudden waft of cool air.  “You were hard and I was horny.”

“That’s fine, Dean.”  Cas scooted up the bed so he back rested against the headboard.  Dean leaned over and rest his head on Cas’s hip.  He trailed a singled finger up the prominent vein on the underside of Cas’s dick.  The sheriff shuddered again, but for a different reason.  He reached for Dean’s hair, feeling grateful that he didn’t pull away.

“You taste like you smell.”

“Really?”

“Uh-huh.”

“I could say the same for you.”

“No one’s ever done that for me before, you know.”

“I had figured.  You seemed surprised.”

“It was amazing.  I thought I could return the favor.” He blew lightly on Cas’s hard dick.  Dean laughed when Cas’s grip in his hair went tighter.

“Are you, I mean, how is your heat?”

“So much more bearable.  Thank you Cas.”  He trailed his fingers along Cas’s thighs and threaded them through his pubic hair.

“If you’re not careful, Dean, you’ll trigger a rut.”

“I’m that attractive, huh?”

“I haven’t had one in a long while, and you affect me more than you know.”  Dean glanced up at him with an easy grin.  “Dean-”  Dean crouched over Cas’s legs, his open mouth hovering over Cas’s erect penis.  Cas gave him a warning look, and Dean smiled up at him.  “ _Dean_.”

Dean leaned down, just taking the head of it in his mouth and began to work his awful tongue over it.  Cas wanted to push him away and pull him closer all at once.  He swallowed all of Cas down, then looked up at his alpha through his eyelashes.  Cas swallowed thickly and moaned into the quiet room.  But then Dean pulled off and set his elbow on Cas’s bony hip.

“You didn’t knot me this morning, did you?”

“Hmm, no,” Cas sighed.

“Why not?”

“You fell asleep.  I didn’t want to do anything that you’d be uncomfortable with.”

“So what, you just…” Dean made a vague back-and-forth motion with his hand.  Cas nodded. With a sigh, Dean explained, “If I fall asleep again, you don’t gotta pull out if you ain’t finished, okay?  Use me however you need, you got that?”

“Dean, I’m not going to _use_ you.”

“Fine, then don’t.  But I feel bad about fallin’ asleep on you.”  Dean’s cheeks turned bright red.  Like actually feeling something for Cas was more embarrassing than sucking Cas’s dick.  He laughed at that idea.

“Don’t feel bad, Dean.  I understand.”

“Would you knot me today?”

“What?”

“Well, it’s just…I feel like I need a knot in me.”  Dean shifted on his butt, suddenly even more uncomfortable.  “I don’t know, heats always make me feel weird, and I think if I had a knot it might pass quicker, but I mean if you don’t wanna do it I guess that’s-”

“Dean, you’re rambling.”

“I just want you to fuck me is that so hard?”  They stared at one another for a moment, then both glanced down on Cas’s dick.

“I’d say it’s rather hard,” Cas said in a voice that was completely devoid of insincerity.  Dean couldn’t help it when he burst into laughter.

“Take me now, sheriff!” Dean managed to wheeze out between laughs.

“You’re the one who asked,” Cas said with a small smile.  Dean shifted his weight forward and let his hand rest on Cas’s cheek.  He liked how Cas’s eyes fluttered closed and how he leaned into the touch, like it meant something to him.

“So can we do this?”

“Whatever you need, Dean.”

“Are you hungry or thirsty?”

“A bit peckish.”

“Garth left some leftovers on the vanity.  Said the room stank like sex and domesticity.”

“Can you imagine?”

“You want the leftovers or not, sheriff?”

They ate the grits and dusty mix of vegetables off the same plate.  Cas found himself watching Dean more than was probably necessary.  Dean noticed apparently, because he took to licking his fingers in a manner that made Cas’s already noticeable erection that much more noticeable.  The things Dean could do with that tongue were sinful.  They cleaned the plate quicker than anticipated, and soon Dean was leaning towards him.

“You got some grits on your face.”

“Where?  Here?”  Cas wiped his hand over his cheeks and chin, but didn’t find any stray food.  Dean leaned even closer.

“No, dummy, right here.”  He laid a soft kiss on Cas’s lips.  It lasted only a moment, but Cas felt his stomach clench up.

“I have a feeling you lied.  There isn’t any food on my face, is there?”

“Oh, there is.  All over your face.  I’m just gonna have to clean you up right, then huh?”

“I suppose so.”

Dean kissed him again, this time pushing his tongue against Cas’s lips.  Cas gave him immediate entrance, and they sat kissing like that for a long while.  It was therapeutic in a way.  It was comforting and tactile, but undemanding and understanding.

Eventually Dean let out a whimper and the strong smell of slick once again filled the room.  Dean cursed under his breath and climbed back over Cas to straddle his hips.  While they stared at each other, Cas stroked Dean’s thighs with his thumbs gently.

“This will be easier if I’m on the bottom,” Dean muttered.  It was awkward shifting around on the tangled sheets and the thing between the two of them.   Finally Cas was looming over Dean.   They still stared at each other.

“Should I start?”

“Whenever you’re ready, Cas.”

Cas did his best to slide in easily.  Dean was still stretched from earlier, although Cas had a feeling that Dean always kept himself prepped for his work.  Cas knew how it was for working omegas.  Better safe than torn and bloody.  He got distracted for a moment, seeing how Dean’s nipple piercings flashed in the low light.  Experimentally he reached out to touch one.  Dean gasped and convulsed when he made contact.

“Are you alright?” Cas asked.

“Fine.  Just sensitive,” Dean moaned.  His jaw was slack, his eyes half-lidded.  Cas had to admit he liked Dean like that.  With a glance up at Cas he asked, “You like ‘em?”

“They’re unusual.”

“They feel great.  Customers like ‘em too.”

“Hmm.”  Cas gave another experimental touch, and Dean grunted.  His toes curled and his legs twitched.  “What happens if I do this?”  Cas twisted both of Dean’s nipples softly, honestly curious.  Dean let out a howl of a sob.

“Are you gonna move or not?” Dean demanded.  There was a shakiness in his voice that Cas reveled in.  He leaned in and scented Dean’s neck, which made Dean shiver.  Dean smelled so good.  He smelled like apples and dew drops and sunshine and Cas wanted to get lost in that forever.  He opened his mouth slightly to get closer.  Laving at the skin behind Dean’s ear, he felt a strong urge rise up in him.

“Shit,” he muttered.

“Hmm, what’s wrong, Little Alpha?”

“I think you actually did trigger a rut.”

“Are you serious?”  Dean sounded playful, which honestly put Cas in a right bad mood.  Dean wiggled his hips and sighed in contentment when Cas jerked back into him with a grunt.

“You’re not helping, Dean.”

“What’re you talkin’ about, of course I’m helpin’,” Dean breathed heavily, “What you think the point of a heat was, huh?”

Cas’s breath punched out of him as he pressed back in again.  “I’m afraid I don’t follow.”

“Omegas go into heat to make their alpha go into a rut.  Somethin’ about increased fertility.”

“Aren’t you worried about getting pregnant then?”

“Not particularly.  Ain’t even happened before.”  They were both rather strung out at this point.  Their voices shook as much as their legs and arms.  Dean’s toes curled in the air and he sighed as Cas softly bit his way to Dean’s lips.

“How is that possible?”

“Don’t know.  Never had a potent enough alpha, I guess,” Dean sighed into Cas’s lips.  “Until now, that is.”  Something flashed in Cas’s eyes, and Dean smirked.  Most alphas reacted the same way, but Dean found it rather attractive on Cas.  “You think you get me all filled up?”

“I-I don’t-”

“You wanna put a bunch a’ pups in me Cas?”

Cas shuddered and threw a particularly hard thrust into Dean.  He cried out while Cas just grunted.  “You shouldn’t talk like that.  I might not let you leave.”

“Maybe I don’t want to.  C’mon Cas, try and breed me.  See if you can knot me so hard I can’t walk tomorrow.”  Honestly, the challenge sounded weak with Dean trembling the way he was, but Cas still took it seriously.  He shut Dean up with a rather dirty kiss, all tongue and teeth.  Dean sucked on Cas’s tongue and wiggled his hips.  They’d been fucking for a while now, and Cas could feel his stomach tightening.  It clenched harder when he remembered that Dean wanted him to knot him.

The only sounds in the room at this point were the wet sounds of their kisses and Cas’s cock sliding in and out of Dean’s ass.  The occasional moan or creak of the bed would sometimes float into the air between them.  Finally, after what seemed to be ages, Cas sighed out Dean’s name in warning.

“I’m-I’m close.”

“C’mon Cas.  Knot me…please.”   The last bit got garbled as Dean arched his back into Cas’s thrusts, but the “please” was enough to tip Cas over the edge.  Dean clamped down on his dick with a sigh.  He could feel Cas’s knot swelling and pulling on him with each thrust.  The fact that Cas kept hitting him in the prostate didn’t slow Dean down, either.  About two seconds after Cas’s first spasm, Dean came too.  The thick white liquid splashed on Cas’s stomach, but he didn’t seem to notice.  He was much too busy grinding his knot into Dean’s ass to care.  The muscles around his dick pulsed and pulled on his knot forcing wave after wave of come out of him.

Eventually, their muscles tired and Cas let his arms give out beneath him.  He pressed soft kisses to the underside of Dean’s jaw.  They both sighed and breathed heavily.  As carefully as he could, Cas rolled them both onto their sides, legs intertwined.

“I suppose we’ll be stuck like this for a while,” he said gruffly.  Dean was already falling asleep.

“Only as long as you make it,” he yawned.  He smirked devilishly and flexed around Cas’s dick.  It punched another groan and pulse of come out of Cas.  He sighed; if he was having multiple orgasms, he’d probably wake up in a rut.  In retaliation, Cas squeezed both of Dean’s nipples.  Dean let out a positively shameful moan.

“You know I’ve never been knotted to an omega before,” said Cas.

“I’ve never been happy to be knotted to an alpha before,” Dean replied.

“I suppose that’s a compliment.”  Cas was playing with Dean’s hair as he drifted off.  Cas managed to stay awake a little longer, just feeling Dean’s skin and his eyelashes and his lips under his fingers.  It was strangely therapeutic.  He pulled Dean a little closer so they could rest their chests together.  This was what couples usually did during a knotting, right?  Dean’s nose twitched on Cas’s neck, scenting him.  Cas liked that.  He liked that Dean craved his smell even in sleep, just like Cas craved Dean’s smell at all times.  He didn’t want to fall asleep, especially since every few minutes both he and Dean would still weakly pulse together, and Cas wanted to savor what little physical closeness he would get with Dean, but it was inevitable.  Cas’s eyelids drooped an soon he was scenting Dean’s hair in his sleep.

~

“ _Mate_.”

Dean woke up roughly, but he wasn’t going to complain.  The way Cas’s breath teased his ear and neck was more pleasant than anything else.

“Mate.”

But that word was troubling.  Dean wasn’t Cas’s mate.  At least not yet.  Dean took a deep breath and sighed in both contentment and resignation.  He knew the scent of a rutting alpha to recognize even Cas’s unique brand of musk.  He felt teeth against his neck and pulled away slowly.  Cas’s arms tightened around his waist like a corset, his teeth pressed harder.  He wasn’t quite biting Dean, which was nice, but it was a near thing and Dean didn’t need a claiming bite right now.  Cas was still fighting sleep so Dean tried to gently unwrap himself from his alpha’s arms.  He met more resistance than he’d expected.

“ _Mine_!”

“Cas, wake up.  You’re in a rut.”

“Dean, smell so good.  Want pups…”

Dean chuckled softly, but twisted in Cas’s arms.  “Cas, c’mon.  Wake up.”  He pushed a little harder this time and shook Cas’s shoulder.

“Hmm?  Oh,” Cas grumbled.  His eyes fluttered open, and his eyebrows drew together.  “ _Oh._ ”

“Yeah, you idiot.  You’re rutting.”

Cas looked at Dean in panic.  “You have to help me.  Rutting is awful.”

“It ain’t like I’m gonna say no, Cas.  You’re helpin’ me through my heat, why wouldn’t I return the favor, especially since I caused your rut, huh?”

The sigh of relief Cas let out made Dean chuckle again.  “Oh, thank you Dean.”  Cas shoved his face into Dean’s neck again and laved at his pulse point.

“Right to it then?”

“I’m very needy at the moment.”  Dean laughed, but he felt some slick drip out of his ass.  It wasn’t like he was going to deny a horny Cas.  The rolled over so Cas could bear down on Dean better.  Dean knew better than to try and take control of a rutting alpha, even if that alpha was as kind and controlled as Cas.  He sighed up to his lover as Cas ground his erection against Dean’s thickening cock.  When Cas grew tired of that, he hefted Dean’s thighs up to expose his rear, then went straight for Dean’s ass.  Dean gasped out with a small squeak, not that he’d admit it.

“Cas!”

“Sorry,” Cas got out between breaths, “You just taste too good, omega.”

Dean shuddered at the name.  Normally he’d feel targeted and insecure about it, but with Cas, it was just a reminder of how well they fit together.  He smiled around the moan that rose out of him.  Cas was licking him open, like he wasn’t always stretched out, but it felt really good.  It felt better than any quick stretch job he’d gotten from the more conscientious alphas and betas he received, but it still wasn’t enough to douse the ebbing burn in Dean’s stomach.  His heats usually lasted about five days without anyone to help him through.  He figured with Cas that time would be almost halved.  So…probably about another half day and he’d be done.  Ruts usually only lasted about a day and a half, Dean mentally added it all up and figured he’d be out of commission for another day at least.

“Oof!  Cas!”

“Pay attention.”  Cas was working his way up towards Dean’s dick and had tossed Dean’s legs back towards the headboard as they’d fallen.  He pressed his thumbs into the fat of Dean’s thighs.  He needed to leave marks on his omega after all.  Dean groaned into the crook of his own elbow when Cas neglected his cock to playfully nip at the softness of his belly.

“Cas, c’mon.”

Instead of replying, Cas bit down harder. Dean cried out softly.  Dean could feel slick trickling down his butt cheeks and onto the mattress, but aside from the occasional deep inhale, Cas didn’t seem to care how needy Dean was getting.  Dean tried to pull on his dick with his free hand, but Cas’s shoulders stiffened and he let out a low growl.

“Mine,” he rumbled out.  He took Dean’s upper arms in each hand and flipped him on his stomach.  Dean canted his hips to present for his alpha, even if Cas was already practically on top of him.  They both groaned when Dean’s rear bumped up against Cas’s cock.

“C’mon Cas, knot me already!”  Cas gripped his hips roughly.  Dean could feel the small patches of raised skin on Cas’s fingertips as he ran his hands up Dean’s sides.  He assumed the same position from their first coupling: Cas spread his entirety over Dean.  It was a buried instinct from when humans lived in packs and another alpha or ambitious beta could steal an omega away if the alpha didn’t keep him under close watch, or in this case, close contact.   Dean keened loudly when he felt Cas finally enter him.  The fever that had been threatening him simmered down as his arms gave out.  Cas’s teeth were back on Dean’s neck.  He almost shouted in panic, but then he realized how gentle Cas was being.

“Want to mark you, Dean.  Want to mark you so bad.”  Cas’s voice was quiet and husky.  It made a shiver run down Dean’s bowed spine.

“Not this time, please, Alpha.”

“Not this time,” Cas replied, but he sounded disappointed.  “Want to so bad.”  He nipped gently across Dean’s back, causing the muscles to jump under the skin.

“Not this time.”

“Not this time.”

Dean didn’t want to think about it too hard, but this particular fuck was probably the closest he’d ever come to “ _making love_ ”.  Cas was not rough like most alphas were while they rutted.  Or rather, Cas was rough, but more in the sense that he wanted to be in control.  His actual actions were much kinder.  The way he interlocked his fingers with Dean’s, how he rolled hips carefully and with thought, the whispers of praise and desire that went straight from Cas’s lips to Dean’s dick; all of it was so much different than what Dean was used to.  Plus Cas’s smell practically screamed “happy, proud alpha”.  Dean’s gasps shuddered.

There was emotion in this.  Cas felt tings for him.  While that wasn’t really news to Dean, it was still a little overwhelming.  He didn’t deserve such a perfect and considerate alpha.  Not the way he lived.  Cas deserved a clean, virgin omega.  There was no way Dean could be his mate.  His thoughts stopped when he heard a whimper that didn’t come from him.  Cas had stopped moving, and shifted his weight to one hand.  With his free limb, he took Dean’s chin and turned Dean’s head so they could look at on another.  Cas’s eyes asked the question he couldn’t say out loud.

_‘What is hurting you?’_

Dean knew Cas was too far gone for words, but Cas didn’t seem to want to knot a distressed omega, which was mostly normal.  Dean tried to stop the thoughts in his head, but Cas was already running a hand through Dean’s hair trying to calm him down.  He kissed what bit of Dean’s face he could reach with their angle.  Dean keened once again, trying to dissipate the scent of stressed omega with that of arousal.  He clenched around Cas, which punched a moan out of his alpha.  Cas opened his mouth around the knob on Dean’s spine and started a more punishing pace.  He was obviously getting close to climax.  Dean tried to reach for his own erection, but Cas held both Dean’s hands down and growled, as if he could sense the thought.  Dean could feel the sweat from Cas’s chest mixing with the sweat trickling down his own back.  It was strange for Dean how intimate this was, despite how ironically animalistic it was.  For a moment, he thought he might cry.

He wanted to see Cas’s face. It was stupid, but once the thought surfaced, it seemed that that was all that mattered. He let out a harsh whimper and Cas paused.  Dean whined out his alpha’s name, wiggled his hips a little, and that was all it took for Cas to understand.  Cas pulled out and rearranged Dean with more care than he was used to.  Dean reached out and took Cas’s shoulders in his hands.  Cas almost collapsed on top of Dean.  They both made low rumbling moans as their arousals rubbed together and they enjoyed simple skinship.  They breathed in each other’s scent for a few moments, every once in a while pushing lips on skin, but mainly scenting one another.  Finally, Cas growled and shifted restlessly above Dean.

“Mate.”

“Knot me as hard as you can, Cas.  Pups and all.”

“Mate.  My mate.”

Loosening his arms around Cas’s shoulders, Dean let Cas re-enter him with a sigh.  It was different than with his clients, this time especially.  The way Cas looked at him, with those big blue eyes, made Dean sigh and shake.  There was lust, of course there was lust.  Cas was in a rut, ruts were based on biological lust or some other fancy scientific thing Dean had never had opportunity to learn.  But with Cas there was something deeper.  Dean wanted to believe that Cas cared deeper for him than a quick fuck.  After all, the sheriff had made a huge show of calling on Dean and making his intentions very clear.  The thought made Dean shudder again.

Cas wanted to court Dean.  Cas wanted to get to know him and treat him like he might a virgin omega.  No, even better, Cas didn’t treat Dean differently than Ellen, or Madison, or Charlie, or anyone else.  Cas treated him like a normal person instead of a dirty whore, or some precious gem that had no will of its own.  And then there was this, the way Cas slid his hand through Dean’s hair tenderly.  Cas let out a deep exhale with every long thrust.

There was nothing particularly spectacular about the sex, if Dean were completely honest.  Cas was straightforward and relatively undemanding.  There were no special tricks, no real technique, which led Dean to assume that even if Cas had some experience in sex, it wasn’t much.  But that didn’t really matter, because he was affecting Dean in ways Dean didn’t know even existed.  While Dean had let his mind wander during the buildup, he could feel his toes curling and his legs twitching now.  He was getting closer and he let Cas know as much.

Even though he’d only smelt it a once or twice before, Dean loved the way Cas smelled when he reached his peak.  Cas smelt like fucking paradise to begin with, but when his scent mixed in with Dean’s and then flared like a pit fire, Dean couldn’t help but bask in it for a few seconds.  Dean could smell in the moist air between them that Cas was closer than he was, so he tried to slow his alpha down by flexing his stomach muscles.  Cas growled again, but slowed slightly.  Dean drew his legs up to wrap them tentatively around Cas’s slim hips.  Cas didn’t respond when Dean used this new leverage to keep Cas from pulling out so quickly.  In fact, Cas seemed to revel in the new pace.

Dean’s breathing began to falter when Cas dove in for his omega’s neck again.  Dean wondered if he was leaving red tracks up and down Cas’s back given how hard he was digging his nails into the hard muscle there.  That thought got pushed down when Cas forwent pushing and pulling, and began to grind into Dean, his knot just starting to swell.  Dean loved how they fit together, though if he were asked, he’d deny that statement with a fierce vehemence.  Cas sat in him well; there was nothing else to it.  He wasn’t too big nor too small, and when they knotted last time, Dean had noticed how the tip of Cas’s dick rested right on Dean’s prostate.

“Cas,” he whined.  He’d deny that too, if anyone told him he ever whined during sex.  “Cas, please!”  Dean wasn’t sure what he was asking for, but Cas seemed to understand.  He rose up carefully and kissed Dean full on the lips.  It wasn’t any deeper than that, really, just the two of them pressing their lips together, but it was possibly the sweetest thing Dean had ever experienced during sex.   His feet cramped up, but Dean was too busy enjoying the rush that accompanied his orgasm to really care.  He was dimly aware of Cas’s knot popping fully.

Cas sobbed into Dean’s shoulder with each pulse of his dick.  Dean had always thought it was sort of perversely satisfying to have a knot in his ass, but Cas’s knot was better.  Dean almost hated how sleepy he always got during his heats.  Luckily he was coming down at the moment, so he didn’t pass out like he had the first time, but he was definitely boneless and lethargic.

Dean’s ass throbbed in time with Cas’s dick.  He wasn’t too worried about pregnancy.  Charlie’s tonics had never failed him before.  But that didn’t stop Cas from rubbing a calloused thumb over Dean’s stomach when he finally got his head back on his shoulders.  Dean laughed quietly.  Cas’s arms were trapped between their stomachs, covered in Dean’s come and their sweat.  They moved slowly into a more comfortable position, with both on their sides, facing one another and legs tangled together.  Dean knew that this was standard for pregnant omegas, since it kept his stomach protected on both sides, but he kind of liked the way Cas dotted on their non-existent child.

It took about twenty minutes for Cas’s knot to stop twitching.  His mind cleared considerably a few minutes later.  Dean was almost on the verge of falling asleep when Cas startled him back awake.

“I, uh, apologize for that.”

Dean snorted.  “Ain’t a problem, Cas.  It was enjoyable for me too, so don’t be feelin’ too bad.”

“I haven’t had such a powerful rut since I was a teenager,” Cas laughed.

“What you think it’s already over?”

“Huh?  Yes, it feels like it’s over.”

“So you’re a quickie?”

“Uh, I suppose.  My ruts usually only last about a day.  I think having you help speed it along.”

Dean might have found Cas’s flustered expression worth commenting on if his own embarrassment weren’t so obvious.  It wasn’t even embarrassment.  It was weird discussing this with Cas.  He was basically saying, ‘I find you so attractive that you make my horrendous biological cycles bearable and pass quicker.’  Dean felt like he was being flattered and degraded at the same time, and it confused him.  The feeling of degradation dissipated quickly though.  Cas pulled him closer so their foreheads rested together and closed his eyes as he inhaled.

“Thank you, Dean. I can’t tell you how much I appreciate this.”

“Really, Cas.  It ain’t that big a deal.  Wasn’t much of a sacrifice on my part.”  Cas looked like he might try to challenge that thought, but then smiled.

“Regardless.  I appreciate it.”

Dean didn’t really have anything to say to that.  He wanted to deflect the statement with a joke, but Cas looked so sincere that his words died before they even reached his throat.  They quietly watched each other’s eyes for a moment.  Dean felt very warm, but it was different than his heat fever.  It was like a pleasant thrumming warmth.  His stomach did turns every time Cas blinked, and Cas’s breath hitched whenever Dean scooted closer.  For some reason Dean felt very dumb.  Dumb, but also warm and happy.  He couldn’t remember the last time he felt this content.  He was also a little scared.  He stared hard at Cas, trying to think out his next step.

“What are you so torn up about, Dean?”

“Huh? Nothin’.”

“Are you certain?  You seem troubled.”

“Just thinkin’.”  When Cas’s eyebrows rose, Dean knew he was supposed to explain.  “This ain’t gonna change anything, right?  Like you’re still gonna call on me and court me, right?”

“Would you like for me to call on you again?”

“I, uh…yes.”

“Then we’ll proceed in that manner.  We can act like this never happened, if that’s what you want.”  Dean tried hard to ignore how morose Cas sounded as he said it.

“No, wait.”  Dean cursed to himself.  That came out much more urgent than he’d intended.  But Cas was distressed!  How else was he supposed to comfort him?  “I don’t want to just…forget this.  But, I mean, we ain’t mated or nothin’, so you still gotta court me.”  Cas’s smile grew and he laughed quietly.

“If that’s how you want us to proceed Dean, I have no qualms whatsoever.  I’m not entirely sure what this means for our relation-”

“Shut up and kiss me would you, Alpha?”

They laid together kissing for a long time, even though Dean was really just letting Cas do all the work.  Dean liked being able to be intimate without the expectation of sex immediately afterwards, plus Cas was careful, but not demeaning.

“Are you falling asleep?”

“Nah.”

“You’re falling asleep.”

“Your knot going down?”

“No.  It’s a rut knot.  It’ll go down in about an hour.”

“Huh.  Well, so long as it goes down at some point.”

“It’ll be gone when you wake up, Dean.”

“You better not be gone when I wake up.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

“You sure?”

“Completely.”

“Alright.  G’Night.”

“Sleep well, Dean.”

Dean had meant to say the same to Cas, but it got lost in his dirty pillow.  He woke up a few hours later and almost screamed in anger when he didn’t immediately see Cas, but then he realized that he’d moved in his sleep and Cas was behind him.  The alpha’s hand rested on Dean’s lower abdomen, where a child would be if Dean could get pregnant.  Dean almost snorted.

“Are you awake?”

“I’m awake.  How’re you doin’?”  Dean wiped some sleep out of his eye and shifted some of the soreness out of his hips when he twisted to face Cas.

“I’m fine.  I have some bruises, but nothing I didn’t expect.”

“Same.  A little sore, too.  But it’s nice.”  They both let out a deep breath simultaneously, then smiled at one another.  “Hey, uh,” Dean stuttered, “Thanks for, you know.  Not claiming me.”

Cas stared silently for a moment before nodding.  “You don’t need to thank me Dean, but I appreciate your gratefulness.”  Dean laughed into his pillow.

“We really tore this place up, didn’t we?”

“Well, it’s to be expected, don’t you think?”

“Yeah, well when you’re fuckin’ with a ruttin’ alpha…”  Cas looked mock-offended, so Dean smacked him with a pillow.

“I’ll have you know,” Cas retaliated when he’d pushed the pillow off his face, “You were the one tearing the sheets and drawing blood.”

“I was not!  That was definitely you!  You’re the rut-crazed alpha!  So aggressive and all.”

“You know what they say about heat-riddled omegas?”

“No, what?”

“They’re the most destructive lovers.  Can’t control themselves.”

“You’re a fuckin’ liar!” Dean smiled, “You pullin’ this outta your ass, ain’t you?”

“Swear on my mother’s grave,” Cas grinned back.  They settled into their snuggling once more, feet rubbing against calves and fingers cautiously intertwining.  “So if you want me to court you, what would you like to do?”

“Whatcha mean?”

“Well, back in New York omegas liked for the alphas to take them to the theatre, or to a faire.  There isn’t much like that here, but if there’s something you enjoy doing in town, I’d like to accompany you.”

“Oh,” Dean said.  He felt a little dumb.  There wasn’t much to do in town if you didn’t count hangings or the saloon, plus he hadn’t exactly been drowning in free time, so he really struggled to think of something he liked doing.  “It’s been a while since I rode a horse.”

“Horse riding?  Is that what you’d like to do?”

“If you don’t mind.  I’m sure you go riding all the time, but-”

“Don’t worry about me, Dean.  If you want to go riding, that’s what we’ll do.”

“Oh.  Alright.”  Dean bit his lip, then said, “You know, I always liked horses.  Wanted to be a blacksmith when I was little so I could fit horseshoes.”  He laughed when he thought about it.

“Smithing is a noble profession,” Cas agreed.

“Yeah, but now that I think about it, it woulda been better to be a stable-master.  Blacksmiths gotta do all sortsa stuff like fix silverware and shit.  I think I only wanted to be a smith because Bobby was a smith.”

Cas nodded but asked, “Who is Bobby?”

Dean froze.  He had told Cas a little about his past, but he wasn’t sure he was ready to share the rest.  Cas wouldn’t want him if he heard it all.  Dean coughed and fidgeted as he tried to grit out a satisfactory answer.

“A friend of my Pa’s.  Used to spend summers on his property.”

“I see.  Dean, if you don’t want to discuss something, you are allowed to say so.”

Dean swallowed thickly.  “Yeah, I know.”

“Alright.”

“It’s just, I wanna tell you, but I can’t.  I just…I’m sorry Cas.”

“It’s alright, but you have to promise to tell me if something is important.”

“I know.”  Dean was about to say something witty to deflect when he remembered.  “Fuck!”

“Wh-Dean, what is it?”  Dean had shot straight up in bed, completely ignoring how difficult it was to disentangle from Cas’s arms.

“My heat!  The reason I went into heat, Cas!  Alistair showed up,” Dean pleaded.  He didn’t know what he was asking for.  Cas’s eyes grew wide, but he said nothing.  Instead he put a hand on Dean’s shoulder and guided him back to the sheets.   “Devil’s Toll is in town, they’re comin’ for us, Cas!”

“Dean, it’s alright.”

“No it ain’t Cas!  I can’t go back to that!  I can’t!”

“You won’t,” Cas stated with so much conviction Dean almost believed him.  “But we can’t do anything about that right now.  It won’t do you any good to be worrying about it right now.  Enjoy this.  We might not get much comfort in the coming months if what you say is true.”

“Cas, I’m terrified.”

“Me too, but I’m not letting them take this town while there’s air in my lungs.”

“Don’t say things like that.”

“Apologies.”

Dean pulled Cas closer again, and they stewed in their own mixed scents.  Dean wanted to cry and laugh at the same time.  He’d just had the time of his life going through a heat of all things, only to have the real world come shooting back through him.  It wasn’t fair, really, but then when had Dean Winchester’s life been fair?

~

Castiel left the next day at noon.  He was pretty certain that Dean’s heat had already died down with his rut, but Dean insisted on him spending the night.  There may or may not have been sexual activities involved.  Either way, Cas was going to be feeling these last four days for at least a week.  There were bruises on his neck and chest from where Dean had gotten a little frisky, not to mention the bright red tracks of thin skin left in the wake of Dean’s fingernails.  His thighs burned with every step, and he would have sworn everyone could hear his knees creaking.  But he felt nice, which was strange.  He felt almost proud of himself, which was probably inappropriate given the circumstances.  But he left the Roadhouse with a sense of accomplishment; even if he hadn’t claimed Dean, they’d still been very intimate, and Dean wanted him to continue courting.  Ellen and the other omegas at the bar eating a late breakfast whooped and wolf-whistled when he slunk out of Dean’s room.  It made him blush and fiddle with his sleeves, but he couldn’t help smiling.

Dean had been luxuriating in the clean sheets Garth had brought up that morning when Cas told him he had to get back to his job.  “Unlike some people’s, my job doesn’t exactly get put on hold for anything.  I need to get back to work.”

“Can’t you just stay here with me?”

“As tempting as that is, I have to put the town first.”

“Yeah, yeah.  I get it.”  Dean smiled up from the bed.  He liked watching Cas get dressed almost as much as he liked watching him get undressed.  Cas stopped by the edge of the pallet, fully dressed and ran his fingers through Dean’s short hair.

“Don’t I get a good-bye kiss?” he’d asked quietly.  Dean grinned brightly and surged up to give him a quick peck.

“Don’t forget to call on me, alpha.”

“Wouldn’t dream of it.”

And then Cas had left, shutting the door as quietly as possible.  The smell of the omega’s breakfast was very tempting, considering how long Cas had been subsiding on snatches of hardtack and eggs.  But he really didn’t want to overstay his welcome.  So he nodded awkwardly at the line of smug residents and tried to get out of their way as quickly as possible.

“Where you think you goin’?” Ellen called out from behind the bar.  “Least I can do for you is serve you breakfast.  C’mere.”

“Oh, I don’t want to be a burden,” Cas held his hands up in protest.

“Nonsense, boy.  Get your rear over here and have some bacon.”

Cas really wasn’t going to refuse if she insisted.  The other omegas all watched him eagerly as he took his first bite of bacon and grits.  He knew a few of them from reports he’d have to draw up.  A few weeks ago an alpha and a beta had gotten into quite the skirmish over Tami, and about a month ago he’d returned a stolen comb to Gilda.  And he recognized their faces, even if he didn’t have a name to put to them.  The only one missing was Lilith, the one Dean didn’t seem to care for.  He was not privy to much of Dean’s past, but he had the feeling that Dean and Lilith were both owned by Devil’s Toll at some point.  Maybe he’d seen Lilith’s tattoo at some point, or maybe Dean had mentioned it.  He wasn’t sure, but he was almost happy she wasn’t there.

“So you feelin’ alright, Sheriff?” Tami asked with a cocked eyebrow.

“Uh, yes.  I’m feeling well.  And you?”

“Oh I’m doin’ just fine now that you and Dean have stopped screamin’ and moanin’.”

Cas opened his mouth to defend himself or apologize, he wasn’t sure which, but Ellen tutted at Tami before he had a chance.

“Now you leave the sheriff right alone, girl.  You ain’t one to talk considerin’ your last heat.  Who was it you took to bed?  Oh, that’s right.  You took Andy, that strange beta.”  The omegas all laughed; Cas just furrowed his brow.  Andy was hardly a suitable bed partner in his opinion.  He was a loafer who did very little other than steal tobacco and other herbs from Ezekiel, the native medicine man who’d been stolen from his tribe a few years before Cas arrived.  There was hardly a week that went by when Ezekiel didn’t show up with a complaint about Andy.  Last time, Cas had stumbled upon Andy in the bank without trousers and drooling where he stood.  Crowley wasn’t too excited about that either.

Tami looked rather abashed at all the laughter, but still smiled softly.  “It was out of necessity, and you know it,” she grumbled.

“You still gonna call on Dean?” one of the omegas asked.  Cas didn’t know her name.

“Yes, we’ve decided to proceed as planned, just to make sure we are as compatible as we think.”

“In all my years I ain’t seen two as compatible as you,” said Ellen.  She poured him a glass of milk and slid it across the bar like she would with something stronger.  Cas smiled to the bar top.  He knew they were almost perfect for each other, but he also knew that Dean had reservations, and with good cause.

“Thank you Ellen.”  She just humphed in response.

Not long after that, Benny made his appearance, and Cas took that as his cue to leave.  He took his buoyant self and strode through town with contentment on his face.  The few people who were out gave him a friendly wave or a nod.  Cas knew they could probably smell the sex and intimacy on his skin, plus the wafts of fading rut, but he couldn’t bring himself to care.  As cliché as he knew it was, he was in love and nothing else seemed to matter.

It took him a while to navigate the dusty roads, especially with the wind as biting as it was.  He almost stopped by at Charlie’s shop, just to make sure nothing too illegal had happened in his absence, but decided that it was too far out of his way.  So he continued toward the other side of town to his home and station.  He wanted to write to Gabriel, let him know that he might be getting mated after all.  Gaberiel might even come out to visit, and wouldn’t that be nice?  Cas wouldn’t mind seeing his brother, maybe introducing him to Dean.

All thoughts stopped as he approached his house.  He was still rather far from the door, stuck the way he was in an alley, but something didn’t look quite right about the wooden façade of his building.  He jogged the rest of the way but stopped dead in his tracks as he realized what was wrong.

In what he hoped was red paint was a huge star circled by flames over the un-sanded surface of the house’s wood paneling.  Just beneath where the roof jutted out were the words “Devil’s Toll will be paid”.  Cas looked up and down the deserted street, but when he saw no one, he approached his home.  He knew there was probably some scout watching from a hiding place, but Cas didn’t care.  With a shaking hand he touched one of the red lines and found it slightly wet still. He brought his fingers to his mouth.

It was not paint.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm gonna have a lot of papers to write in the coming weeks so I'm afraid I won't be getting the next chapter out until January. D: But the plot should start to pick up by then, so hopefully it'll be worth it. And if you get bored waiting, I highly suggest checking out the DeanCas Big Bang works. I didn't participate, but the authors that did are incredible, and this years entries were top-notch! <3


	4. NOT A CHAPTER

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm really really sorry to everyone who has supported this fic hoping for a continuation. I will not be continuing Devil's toll. I have recently found both the canon and fandom of Supernatural to be detrimental to my health, and I have decided for my own sake to distance myself. I have run out of motivation for this fic, as well as motivation for most other Supernatural-related things. This fic was a lot of fun and I'm sad to see it end, especially like this, but with my depression and the stress of college, I simply can't see myself finishing it. I will not be orphaning it because I had a very clear picture of how it was going to end, and I may upload another chapter as a summary of what would have happened, but other than that, this fic is over.

Sorry.

**Author's Note:**

> hahahahahaha I have no idea what I'm doing
> 
> As always, bother me on [tumblr](http://bastetcg.tumblr.com)


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